Striking, eco-savvy decor from recycled paper and cardboard
Many of us dispatch our used paper to a bin, the first step on the way to Recycle Land. These household accumulations of paper and cardboard are just one more thing to get rid of.
Luckily, there are designers and artists who see possibilities in all that wood pulp. They’re busy using it to create art, decorative accessories, even furniture.
What you send to the recycling center just might find its way back, in some form, to your house.
Trent Mayol’s company, SmartDeco, designs and makes heavy-duty cardboard furniture that’s simple, stylish and easy to put together without tools. The idea came to him when he was a University of Southern California neuroscience major dealing with the packing and logistical hassles of his fifth college-housing move. To launch the business, the entrepreneur raised $15,478 in funds via a 30-day KickStarter campaign in December 2011.
“Nobody likes dealing with furniture. Especially those living what we’ve deemed the one-year-lease lifestyle,” Mayol says. “These people are young, economically savvy and never in the same place for too long.”
SmartDeco’s pieces, which include a desk, a bedside table called a sidestand and dressers, are engineered to hold up to 400 pounds, with multiple layers of fiber and a reinforcing panel. Yet they’re lightweight and easy to move.
Available in Kraft finish (the natural brown of cardboard) or white, the Modesto, Calif.-made furniture might appeal particularly to college students, but it has enough of a hip look for a wider audience, too. Customize the pieces if you want; a plastic snap-on protective shelf cover comes with each one (smartdecofurniture.com).
Seattle design studio Graypants makes striking light fixtures called Scraplights out of repurposed cardboard boxes. The corrugated cardboard allows light to play dramatically through the fixtures, and it’s treated with a nontoxic fire retardant. The hanging lamps are high style, starting at $235 (graypants.com).
Amy Gibson’s medium is magazines. The Seattle artist folds sections of recycled periodicals into color slabs, which she combines into moderately priced, one-of-a-kind wall art and mirror frames. On her Etsy site, she notes paper is the traditional first-anniversary gift (etsy.com/shop/colorstory designs).
If paper decor intrigues you, visit other Etsy.com stores for items or inspiration. Israeli artist Ruti Ben Dror offers functional bowls made of origami-folded paper. San Antonio-based Shannon Ruby crafts clocks out of recycled magazines and paper; some are made of myriad curled-paper circles, others are starbursts made of colorful rolled pages. And she’ll custom design.
Restoration Hardware Baby & Child has papier-mâché animal heads, including sharks, antelope, giraffes and stags, made by Haitian artists out of recycled paper similar to newsprint. Each piece has the look of a typographic sculpture (rhbabyandchild.com ).
Got a carful of old maps but now use GPS? Decoupage cartographic pages onto waste bins, serving trays or furniture, or on wooden or cardboard letters for instant decor. Old atlas pages make cool lampshades, drawer liners or framed wall art. You’ll find instructions galore online.
3 great ways to reuse paper (Video)
Our clean oxygen comes from the plethora of trees we enjoy. Those trees are also used to create furniture, paper and a variety of other commonly used household items. One way to greatly reduce your impact on the environment is to reduce the amount of paper you use. Here are some great ways to re-use the paper in your home.
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1408227
Paper Note Pads
Place all paper (used on one side only) in a box. Once a month cut the paper into half or quarter sized pages and staple them at the top. Use these pads for notes on the phone, reminders for family, grocery lists and other notes.
Family Crafts
Gather all paper (used on both sides) and newspaper in the house. This paper can be used for paper mache. Keep cardboard and reuse that as well with the paper mache to create storage boxes and decor items for the home. For younger children the paper can be used for paper chains or snowflakes. There are a variety of paper crafts you can use your old paper for.
Binder Covers
High school students are notorious for writing on their binders. Instead of purchasing a new binder, cover the front in scrap paper. Place the used side of the paper down so the blank side of the paper can be used for the students drawing and writing.
Most paper can be reused within the home, reducing the amount of paper going to the recycling depot. This helps reduce the amount of gas and energy being used to recycle the paper. Furthermore, reusing your paper reduces that amount of paper and other products (such as binders) that you are buying. Reduce your impact on the environment by reusing your paper.
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