This is about as IKEA as it beget . The Swedish flatpack article of furniture behemoth is in the late stages of developing a argument of furniture that ’s made out of paper . That ’s right : paper . Not cardboard . This long-wearing stuff is a entrancing complex of repurposed flesh that can be molded into any form . The craziest matter ? It looks great .
We ’re not just talk about bookshelf for college student residence room . In two years , IKEA plans to launch a argumentation of paper - made furniture that includes a couch , a president , tabular array , and some goofball fecal matter . And yes , there are some bookshelf , too . I latterly saw — and sat on — prototypes for several of the pieces at IKEA ’s headquarters in Älmhult , Sweden . The company was host its 2nd ever Democratic Design Day and had fix up a bazaar of sort to show off its pet projects for a grouping of outside diarist . While some of the items we ’d seen that sidereal day were headed to stores afterwards this summer , these projection had farseeing runways . Some would n’t be seen by the public for years . And , of line , there was always the opportunity that IKEA would decide to abandon the designs altogether .
Note : So that I could attend this year ’s Democractic Design Day , IKEA paid for my transportation , meal , and pledge over the course of four days . The company also gave me a innocent placard and a detached tote bag — both of which I at once gave away .
Honestly , I felt a little lost in the melée of new patterns and decorative glassware , until I ascertain a relaxed - looking womanhood sprawled out on an odd - calculate couch . Her badge bespeak that she was not a diary keeper — we rarely reckon relaxed — but an IKEA designer . I look around at the booth , which somehow resemble a deconstructed apartment . There were woven table , singular shelving units , a rough - sounding chair that resemble the fabled Eames molded plastic chair . And there were chunks of dried paper pulp here and there .
“ Can I avail you ? ” the woman was now standing next to me , smile . I ’d subsequently find out that she was Maja Ganszyniec , an acclaimed interior designer from Warsaw . I asked her if she was with IKEA , just to be certain . She nod . I asked her what all of the items had in common .
“ They ’re all made of paper , ” Maja said . And I did n’t believe her ! I asked how , where , why , as if she ’d just demonstrate me a smartphone made out of maize . Maja went on to excuse how she and her collaborator on the projection Michael Nickolic had develop a new procedure that enabled them to blackmail mould paper into hyper resilient mannikin . You’veprobably seen molded paper before , but this material is rock music solid . Well , it ’s as solid as plastic but quite a bit lighter . Michael said that the novel process was not dissimilar to making egg cartonful out of paper pulp . They just took it to a novel extreme .
IKEA ’s serious about this unexampled composition undertaking . “ We have build mill around it , ” he told me . The first of them are in Sweden , but IKEA project to broadcast its Modern paper furniture around the man . The current challenge , the two clothes designer excuse , was purely logistical . During my time at IKEA , I ’d learn that this was almost always the biggest challenge .
IKEA care to source textile near manufactory and make the shipping process as effective as possible . Inevitably , Michael said , the company “ aims for the lowest price in each category . ” The newspaper article of furniture category will be very low , with some pieces be just a few dollar . The global launch is project for May 2017 .
So far , it ’s unclear which of the disparate pieces will make it to the salesroom of your local IKEA store . The squad is still perfecting design and cycling through prototypes .
I sit in the report chair — the one that looks like an Eames piece — and it felt passably damn honest . I strike hard on the newspaper bookshelves , and they feel sturdy . I picked up some shady stools covered in a material that Michael said was similar to the fake leather patch on the back of dungaree .
I sit on the lounge , it was plush . I run my fingers along the fabric . It felt soft , like a well lap denim .
“ This is all newspaper ? ” I asked ”
“ Well , ” Maja pulled the masking back to unwrap a metallic element skeletal system . “ This is just for show . ” The upholstery would be fabric that may or may not contain paper . The physical body was created as a manakin of what the final sofa would look like .
Maja showed me draftsmanship of the current pattern . With cushions and the not - all - composition screen , the sofa reminded me of a plushy baseball baseball glove . The frame itself , however , resemble an elongated Eames molded plastic chair with branch rests . But it ’s lighter somehow . It seems to float . The all - paper couch would be beautiful enough without a cover . Now , IKEA just needs to estimate out how to source , manufacturing , and ship several million of them — in monotone packs , of line .
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