Rumina (Room-in-a) Chair

Below I have posted pictures of the finished cardboard product. Apparently there is already a cardboard furniture market. There was a recent article in the newspaper about 2 brothers who started a business making cardboard furniture. Also, I saw some cardboard shelves at the Visitor Center in Chicago's Water Tower Place. These shelves were reinforced with a thin plywood or board which was disappointing. I'll still work on some ideas but I'm going to research a little more to make sure I'm not replicating something already made. While building this chair I noticed some structural instability in the layered cardboard. If it wasn't properly glued, it would fall apart. This can be solved with a better gluing technique. Overall, I'm satisfied with the out come of this chair, it's been a great learning experience.

Concept II

This sketch shows the latest concept for the competition entry. Basically, it's a couch that can turn into a set of 4 chairs, a table, and a bed. The idea is to maximize the usability and minimize cost. Because the "chair" has so many functions, it eliminate the need to purchase other furniture resulting in less packaging, less cost, and less wasted materials. It's both environmentally and cost friendly.

Rolling Start

Well the ball is officially rolling. Today I confirmed the first cardboard donation for the chair project. I think that this school project will be very good for me and perhaps in the future, I'll be able to start a cardboard line. That's the hope for this summer anyway. If I do win a cash prize from the school competition, that will serve as seed money for the summer project as well. Right now I am focusing on getting all the pieces I need to fabricate the chair. I've set up a schedule for this assignment:

week 1: Conceptualize
week 2: Plan
week 3: Obtain Donations
week 4: Fabricate
week 5: Presentation Boards
week 6: Submit

I actually wasted a lot of time working on class work, so I guess it wasn't wasted, but none the less I have a lot of catching up to do. So, it's back to the phones...

Concepts

Here are some ideas I sketched up for the cardboard furniture line, I really like the dark one...but I"m still working on ideas.