Foldschool!

A few weeks ago Superforester Niki posted something about the lovely Cardboarddesigns. But that stuff is pretty expensive. Here's an alternative for you. The foldschool.

Established by the Swiss architect Nicola Enrico Stäubli, foldschool is aimed at the DIY'er. On the website he offers three designs which can be created by everyone. There's a stool, a chair and a rocker (in this case not being someone singing rock songs but a rocking chair).

Ok so how does the thing work? You download a PDF with the design in it, print it, get some cardboard sheets, stick the design template on and you cut, fold and glue.

And you have your very own piece of cardboard furniture! The best part is that you can use cardboard from packaging and thus recycle a box into a chair.
It's a bit unfortunate that the designs are created for child use. But according to Stäubli all the designs are strong enough to carry adult weight (see the above picture).

-jdh

SuperForester Julius Presents: The Cardboard Bicycle!

Hello All,

Happy happy Monday!
We've got another new contributor to SuperForest: Mr. Julius de Hond!
May we proudly present SuperForester Julius's first piece:


Hello dear readers of SuperForest,

My name is Julius de Hond and since a short while I can proudly call myself the newest member of the SF team. I found SuperForest through the official website of Jason Mraz. Yes that is indeed the Virginia located singer-songwriter (he inspires me a lot by the way, but I'll get to that later). Anyway, Mraz features SF in his links section accompanied with a little snippet of text saying "My favorite blog! So many great ideas and alternative art projects". Well I just had to check that out.
But who is that I actually? Well as said previously I'm Julius de Hond and I like Jason Mraz. I'm living in the Netherlands and going to - what I believe Americans call - highschool. Since I'm near done in there I plan on going to university and study Applied Physics. That basically wraps it up for my career at this point in time.

Furthermore I enjoy rowing in my spare time. It's good for your physical condition and when the weather is nice it also gives a great experience (you should try it). I also like music (listening to, not making it), photography (making it as well as looking at it), modern art, literature (that includes Shakespeare and A Clockwork Orange) and blogging. I've started blogging about a year ago for a Dutch blog. This really encouraged me to start for myself and I did, casuquo.org became mine. I like to write about anything that interests me. That includes science, politics, people, the environment, culture and art.
So what specific things inspire me to keep on going what I do and enjoy it? First of all there are a few teachers walking around my school who really get it on. They don't just teach stuff from books but they try to tell something. Then there are some musicians and artists who are inspirational. The earlier mentioned Jason Mraz is one of them, his music is great and the lyrics are spot on. Besides Mraz there's also Jack Johnson, the surfer who couldn't surf anymore after an accident and decided to start recording music. It's pretty good to see that a bad experience such as an accident can have considerably good consequences.



Cardboard Bike

Biking is good for you. It keeps your body in a healthy condition, it gets you in touch with the outdoors and it can give a relaxing experience. The only downside of purchasing a bike, is the risk of getting it stolen.



This must be a lot like what went on in Phil Bridge's head when coming up with his cardboard bike. Bridge is a product design graduate student who created this paper-wonder with the intention of reducing the number of people who use their cars a lot. Because the bike is constructed entirely out of cheap (but sturdy) cardboard it's not expensive. So the chances of it being stolen will drop (probably a lot), so people have less reasons not to buy a bike.
Furthermore it's designed in an ecologically OK way, the cardboard is recyclable, and the mechanical parts (such as the chain and some screws) are replaceable. To me the cardboard bike is an example of a great design that is environmentally and socially responsible.



Well I've been taking enough of your time now. Get out there, spread the SuperForest humanifesto and check back here once in a while to read about inspirational things.

--Julius de Hond

(Jackson again.
Great job, Julius!
Check back for more from the newest member of Team SuperForest.)

Ooooh, Treehugger had a nice piece up about cardboard bikes: Meet the Cardboard Bicycle

Birkiland - Cutting Table No. 1

Look at this beautiful flat-pack cardboard cutting table!

From Birkiland = $349.00 + S&H
Picking up some clean cardboard off the street and making one yourself = $0.00 + (time)

Whichever you prefer.

SR109 is
CUTTING TABLE No. 1
a transportable aeroplane-friendly modular cutting-table
for designers and students alike.

"this, is a cardboard table:
The core of many design projects is the design table,
without such proper costumes are limited to being cut on low desks or floors.

The last few years of constant travel and guerilla studio set-ups were impeded by this one lacking thing - no good clean surface on which to stand by and cut it up. Back aching, fabric soiled and head swelling... productivity was continually slowed. Similarly, during university, fellow students were oft discussing the limitations of cutting on bedroom carpet floors, tiled kitchen surfaces and low tables.

Thus, this light and sturdy corrugated structure was developed to meet the requirements of both the travelling designer and space limited student... or the travelling student and space limited designer, needing an ergonomic sturdy plane on which to cut, fold, draft, design or dine. The affordable biodegradable alternative is easily packed down at the end of your day to regain precious real estate.

Cutting Table No. 1 - 1500mm x 1200mm x 930mm

Has thus far been employed as a cutting table, meeting table, dinner table, baby changing table, RPG table, and a bed. She comes with 3 collapsable drawers, Jute strap moving/storing box, laminated white surface top, and all replaceable parts."