Found in the Pappdorf store: Cardboard furniture and toys

After featuring the cardboard furniture and toys (not to say “playscapes”) by New Zealand producer flatout frankie on the blog we’ve been asked where to buy their products in Europe. Unfortunately there does not yet seem to be a brick-and-mortar store but check out the online stockists that sometimes do ship internationally.

On the other hand there is alternative for all cardboard-craving people here in Europe: Pappdorf.

Children’s furniture made of cardboard in the Pappdorf store (produced by Green Lullaby and JoyPac)

At first we thought that Pappdorf produced all the products on their website but after having a closer look we figured out that they also bought cardboard toys and children’s furniture from other companies – in other word it’s a cardboard heaven. The products are not as “designery” as flatout frankies and some of the products are slightly old-fashioned. On the hand the the old-fashionedness does have some charme and the kids will enjoy the castles (a favorite: the pink one!), furniture, houses, ships etc. nevertheless.

Cardboard dollhouses – or perhaps a life(-children-)sized pirate ship?

The big appeal of Pappdorf is the wide variety of cardboard toys and furniture they offer. We’ve definitely never seen so many different cardboard (doll)houses in one place not to mention a total of seven different space rockets! The English Pappdorf website is not perfect but just click through the German headlines to see where they lead. Shipping is within the European Union only. And now hopefully only have to wait until the toys by flatout frankie also find there place in Pappdorf (German for “cardboard village”, btw).

During the last weeks we’ve seen pictures of a fabulous cardboard stove here, a cool dollhouse there… but only yesterday we actually found the designers and makers behind these pieces: flatout frankie! Of course if we read parenting blogs we might have figured it out sooner (but up until now no such blogs are read in the studio though times might change at some point…).

flatout frankie is based in New Zealand, all their toys come flatpacked (of course) and can be recycled in case the kids – or adults – ever get tired of them. Better still you can also just pop them together to store them or take them along on a holiday! The signature white details are just amazing – hot plates, knobs and utensils on the stove, furniture and a dog in the dollhouse and ‘Red Baron’ flames on the nose of the plane.

A growing list of stockists can be found here and some of the online retailers ship internationally.

BEUTE lamps by herrwolke

Michael Konstantin Wolke / herrwolke is the designer behind the amazing BEUTE lamps made of found and “looted” old cardboard.

To understand the concept you have to know that BEUTE is the German word for “loot” and only by reusing and rearranging the “conquered” cardboard these lampshades can be built. They’re all one-of-a-kind and I find that very aesthetically promote the idea of reusing discarded materials. The colorful bits and pieces of the original imprints and logos on the boxes contrast beautifully with the industrial look of the rolled corrugated cardboard edges.

Michael Konstantin Wolke’s interest in the reuse of found materials and their transformation into useful everyday objects shows in all of his work – and he’s also available for comissioned work in case you’re looking for something special (a note: the studio is based in Cologne, Germany).

The BEUTE lamps can be bought in the dua shop (beware: you’ll need some time admiring all the beautiful furniture there) as well as on the herrwolke website. They’re all one-of-a-kind and special sized can be comissioned as well.

BEST BEFORE’s Collection 02: A GROS LEGUMES (top), PETALE and CABAS (bottom) handmade of recycled paper cord

It made my day when I discovered BEST BEFORE on Justine’s blog upon a fold. Paris based artisans Corinne Muller and Piotr Oleszkowicz concentrate and revive old techniques in their collections and Collection 02 is all about the Korean tradition of making paper cords and knotting and weaving with them.

I wrote about this Korean tradition once before in my blog article about paper artists Aimee Lee here. Aimee did extensive research on the topic in Korea and you can read about her research and see picture of her own work in paper on her website (make sure to check out the videos, they’re amazing).

BEST BEFORE’s collection 02: A making of… and a big roll of paper cord

The designers who had previously made interior objects out of salt and wool/felt explain about their work that “we chose to work with non-perennial, biodegradable materials. Though they are not fleeting, these objects can melt away and disappear” and paper cord made from recycled paper fits perfectly into this concept. With their Collection 02 BEST BEFORE tried to create soft braidings that adjust to the shapes that are put into the baskets and bags. These flexible, oversized “everything baskets” can also be transformed into footstools as well as light fixtures.

BEST BEFORE’s Collection 02: COCON and FOURRE-TOUT

Once again it’s incredible what can be made out of paper and paper cords and strings. Besides the French shop Caravane there are currently no retailers/”Points de vente” listed on the BEST BEFORE website but due to their success the BEST BEFORE bakets and bags are actually sold worldwide so look out for them when you’re shopping for something handmade and beautiful.

Paperself’s Paper Eyelashes that are Inspired by the art of Chinese paper-cutting (Concept Designer: Ting yu Wang)

“This is the beginning of a paper revolution” is a statement right off the website of Paperself and definitely one I like even though I think it will be a couple more years before this London based platform will really show if they can keep their promise. Launched in 2009 by London based designer Chunwei Liao, Paperself unites artists, designers and manufacturers from East to West. Their most well known product are their Paper-Cut Eyelashes and even though I’ve seen some of them before I really enjoyed finally seeing all the designs on the Paperself website.

The Intertior Origami Collection by Paperself (Designed by Y.M.Hsu)

I’m quite curious about the “stonepaper” that Paperself uses for its interior origami collection. Currently there are only two pieces – the vase and the bowl – but I hope that there will be more soon because these two two pieces are quite promising and their shapes make for signature pieces.

Paperself’s Transformer furniture and lightning

The last current Paperself product is a modular cardboard system called “Transformers” that allows you to build your own coffee table, seat, light or as seen on the second picture above even a whole booth for a fair. The cardboard modules are flat when shipped, can be recycled, be printed or painted. As with Paperself’s Origami series this modular furniture system offers even a lot more possibilities and hopefully the Paperself team keeps its promise of a paper revolution and keeps playing with their great basic ideas and systems.

Tailored Stool by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay

I wrote about the “Volume” cardboard chairs by designer duo Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer a while ago and because I’m still very much in love with their work here is another chair project by them that I find noteworthy: Tailored Stool.

Tailored Stool by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay

Like the Volume chair the Tailored Chairs are created with “a technique similar to that used in the clothing industry(…). A pattern is generated and when assembled, the resulting void is filled with foam. Just as a suit is altered to fit the client, the furniture is custom made and adapted to fit the user be they tall, short, skinny or fat.”

A note on the side: Tailored Chairs are self-produced by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay in a limited edition of 48 so unfortunately I’m not sure if there’s still one available…

My soft spot for carboard furniture is surely well known by now. But my soft spot for paper furniture is of course even softer (if that is possible at all) – unfortunately there is not much furniture around that falls into this category. Luckily I don’t believe in categorizing but I do believe in beauty and functionality and this chair combines both. The Piao Paper Chair is by Innovo and seems to be part of a whole design series investigating the classical oriental paper umbrella. Sorry but these websites are rather confusing. More of these paper projects and products can be found on the Pinwu website.

The Piao Paper Chair is made the same way as a traditional paper umbrella by gluing together layers of paper. The combined layers of handmade paper make the chair strong enough to sit on but still keep it flexible and therefore comfortable.

Compared to cardboard furniture this is a different approach to building stable pieces out of a humble materials and in my opinion it’s an approach that still offers many more possibilities.

Two Ways rug by Danish company HAY – design by Merete Laurent Erbou

No need to tell you that I love these rugs, is there? They’re made of Paper Twine (or papercord, as the company calls it) and are manufactured by the Danish company HAY. Fittingly the rugs are called Two Ways because thanks to their construction in 3 layers you can flip them over to change their look. Each rug is made of three shades of twine, a strong fluorescent color combined with natural and grey so you can choose what amount of color you want to have in your rooms!

The rugs were designed by Merete Laurent Erbou for HAY – and they’re actually woven in India. This last fact makes these astonishing pieces rather affordable (usually paper rugs tend to be rather expensive due to the high amount of labour involved).
Definitely a first item on the wish list for Christmas…

CUT light shade by Umlaute Designbureau (designed by Dea Simonsen)

If there is one thing I’m obsessed with (besides chairs and macaroons – and paper, of course) then it’s lamps and lamp shades. Light is one of the most important factors to make a room look and feel good – or to make it feel like a miserable hole.

One of the current favorites is the CUT light shade by Umlaute Designbureau – and yes, it’s made of cardboard. Or rather it’s not actually made of cardboard when you buy it because you purchase the template to cut your very own and personal pendel light shade of any cardboard you have and want to reuse. I can already think of a lot of boxes that I kept for some detail in their design and that would be really wonderful to incorporate into a lampshade (note to the boyfriend: I told you that I was keeping them for a reason!).

POLKAlove by Umlaute Designbureau (designed by Dea Simonsen)

.. and as a side-note: the number of wall stickers and wall decals available is increasing with such a fast rate that it’s actually difficult to keep some sort of overview. But the POLKAlove wall stickers are definitely among my favorites (dear boyfriend, start fearing the worst – your flat has a truly perfect wall for them…).

shelf114/115 by German manufacturer diefabrik

I guess by now you are aware of my love for cardboard furniture though I’m doing my best so that cardboard is not completely overtaking the blog, I promise. On the other this new find is too cool not to share it with you: the shelf114/115 by the German manufacturer diefabrik. The shelf was designed by Stefan Hölldobler and is actually a modular shelving system made out of 100 % recyclable cardboard. As you can see you can stack it up to fit any purpose or any wall space you might have – so only your imagination is the limit.

chair777 by diefabrik

diefabrik (German for “the factory”) produces furniture in small and limited numbers by hand and for every piece of furniture a material or object is reused or recycled. The second cardboard piece in their current catalogue is chair777 made of 61 layers of cardboard that are glued together by hand(!). chair777 offers different sitting positions if turned over and is a sculptural piece in itself.

Unfortunately shelf114/115 and chair 777 are only available in Europe at the moment – hopefully this will change at some point