CB2 cafe chair - winner of Fringe Festival design award

Using a similar construction to my previous Fringe Furniture entrant, Seedt, the CB2 chair was made using a cardboard core, covered in layer of kraft paper. The construction is analogous to a 'sandwich panel' used in the aerospace industry, which usually consists of a fibreglass, or carbon fibre skin covering an aluminium honeycomb core. It's a technique that results in a very light but very strong products. 

In this case, the skin is made from a patchwork of shapes cut from reclaimed brown paper shopping bags – which are themselves made from recycled paper. In some places the store brand and recycle logos are still visible, giving a nod to eco-modernistic values and the authenticity of the product.

The core itself is made from laminated sections cut from reclaimed cardboard cartons, also made from reclaimed paper fiber waste. The sections are fixed together with a starch ie plant - based glue. The core of the corrugated cardboard is aligned to make a honeycomb-like structure, as per the sandwich panel technique. 

Prior to the skin being applied, the seat and back components are placed in a curved mould. The end result is a compound curve that is otherwise typically difficult to achieve in non-plastic materials. The sections are then assembled, and, once the skin is applied, the whole form becomes rigidly fixed into place. The end result is a very comfortable chair – an organic form – light, yet surprisingly strong.

The whole concept of the technique arose from a number of intersecting ideas. The initial steps were developed after participating in a practical design exercise (esquisse) during the research phase of my final Design Masters, using cardboard-cored board,  This lead to further interest in cardboard and experimentation – playing around with the material, without any particular design outcome in mind. It became an experienced example of 'tinkering'  – a design process that isn't a 'top-down' plan for a specific outcome, but, rather, becomes a 'bottom-up', playful, messing-around approach. I further developed the 'skinned cardboard core' construction technique over a several years – again, iteration is a hallmark of tinkering. 

Tinkering can be used in many areas of creative output, not just playing with materials. Writers might use the process. Indeed also had the privilege of being able to apply a tinkering approach to the thesis as a whole. Rather than proposing a hypothesis, and setting out to, and setting out to test it hypothesis via research,  I played around with a several ideas which only toward the end, coalesced into a whole, structured work.  It was also somewhat down the track that I learnt about tinkering formally.

I also researched all the exemplars of cardboard and paper fibre furniture, and classified them according to the process used into a typology. This has since been referenced in other academic works. By doing this I discovered a 'gap' in existing products and processes – and this pointed to an opportunity to develop an entirely new process, eventually becoming the 'skinned cardboard core' technique.

The design process was therefore an intersection of both the intuitive through tinkering and the theoretical through research, analysis, and classification.

I had the pleasure of having Lotars Ginters as my mentor/supervisor for my final design master's thesis. Lotars's mentor had himself been mentored by the great László Moholy-Nagy, teacher at the Bauhaus in Weimar 1923–1928. It's probably no accident that I found myself being guided by such Bauhaus principles as functionality, minimalism, innovation, and a process driven and material inspired form.

Modernist designer, Charles Eames and his partner Ray Eames, also had an influence. I'd studied the plywood leg splint they had designed for injured servicemen during WWII. The design, while modest, was a pivotal project, as they experimented with plywood laminating, and solved the problem of how to create compound curves in a moulded plywood form. It was to lay the groundwork for their later iconic pieces of furniture, such as the DCM dining chair and 501 lounge chair. 

The latest design iterations of my skinned cardboard core process, have also involved finding a solution on how to create compound curves, albeit through a different method. Likewise, however, I found my solution inspired a whole panoply of design forms. The name CB2 is maybe a little 'pedestrian', but it is really just a reflection that it is a stage in a developing process, just as I imagine that the Eames would justify their similarly curt nomenclature.

Another important influence was the cardboard furniture of Frank Gehry introduced in 1972 – . Gehry's approach to design – sometimes creating forms out of doodles or screwed up bits of paper – as described in the 2006 Sydney Pollack documentary, had already informed my own design process. Drawing a distinction between illustrative drawing and communicative sketching made me feel less self-conscious about what I used to see as my crude sketches. During my thesis research phase in 2009, I visited MOMA in New York, and was very impressed with some of the first examples of cardboard being used in practical contemporary furniture – revolutionary in employing such a 'humble' material.

Prior to 2009, I had been involved in furniture manufacturing - both as a manufacturer myself, and then as a consultant designer to large scale Melbourne-based manufacturers. My initial thoughts when developing the cardboard furniture range were often about production considerations - ie how would the furniture be mass-produced. Cardboard furniture is often associated with planar surfaces and straight line edges – like cardboard cartons. After being away from manufacturing for some years, I decided to be create a more 'one-off' expression of the process with CB2– be more whimsical – and even more exploratory of what could be done with the technique.

In 2009 Peter Danko wrote, "You are about to witness a quantum leap in design and the decorative arts of a magnitude not seen since the advent of the Bauhaus movement in the 1920s, The event is the birth of a design style embracing the marriage of sustainability with industrial production. I call this Eco-Modernism." 

This was written just before I wrote my final master's thesis. I couldn't help but notice the reference to Bauhaus, but also the resonance to my own values. My parents grew up experiencing the deprivation of the Great Depression in the 1930s; my mother's favourite saying was 'waste not want not'. Consequently I grew up always being mindful to be careful with resources – it seems a natural progression for me to become a staunch advocate of sustainability considerations in design! 

Sadly, my mother passed away just before I finished my thesis – and I dedicated it to her memory.