Green Thing Blog

Some things you just eventually grow out of. Like, that star dress that you wore everyday when you were five; sleeping with a teddy bear; playing make belief (some people do, anyway) and childhood furniture. But imagine a new type of furniture that grows with you- from childhood make belief to first day at job as an adult. HECMEC have just designed earth friendly pop up chairs, that are made of paper tubing and plant based resin. And, you can even write on it without getting in trouble.

Anyone could totally take on this concept in their own home with toilet rolls, and leftover tubes from wrapping paper at Christmas that are normally only useful in fake sword fights.

(Spotted on Inhabitots)

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Whether you're slumped over a computer at the office or working on the perfecting the growing grove in your sofa while watching the world cup, where we plant our bottoms is an important thing to consider. So, here are 3 very different, all consuming, and wonderful recycled chair ideas.

These pieces of furniture are made from items found in skips and charity shops. Hand stiched and stuffed with fibers, each piece is unique. The chairs look like very comfortable clouds, in like care-a-lot, where the carebears lived. 

(Spotted on Treehugger)

Made from recycled materials, this chair/sofa/catepillar is literally an all-consuming piece of furniture. It looks like you could get lost in it! Or sucked into it. Perfect for all sorts of parties, you don't even need people to RSVP, you can adjust the size of it accordingly. Oh, and it's got a great name. Flexible love. Aw.

Now this chair is cool. You could very easily hack it and add the shopping cart wheels back on to it, so in cases of extreme laziness, like trips to the fridge during football or a film, you can stay seated. Ok, maybe that's a bit extreme, but it could double as a trolley and other handy household furniture when your backside isn't planted in it. Max McMurdo is the brains behind this design and he's set up a shop called reestore, showing that eco-designs can stil have nice aesthetics, like this shopping cart, for example.

(Spotted on Inhabitat)

Ps- This post is part of An All-Consuming Summer on Green Thing. Want to find out more? Just click on the anallconsumingsummer tag.

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(Images: Country Living Magazine, Unconsumption)

There are a lot of good ideas out there for making cool chairs from recycled materials but what about how to upcycle your old chairs? This crafty collection of ideas for your chairs will have you the All Consuming talk of the town.  

1.The Shelf. Stick or hang it from the wall and you're done!

(Images: Husohem)

2. The Swing. This involves a bit more work but essentially get some rope and a branch to hang it from and you can swing to your heart's content.

(Image: thestir)

3. The Planter. Take the seat bit out of your old dining chair and plant some greenery in them for an unique garden look.

(Image: Antonello Fusè)

4. The Hanger. Saw the tops off your old chairs, screw in a hook and volia - you're the coolest hipster on the block.

(Image: thronesandchairs)

5. The Bench. Have more than one chair just begging to be rejuvenated? Put a few together for a beautiful new bench. Here is the before picture to help inspire you!

(Image: thronesandchairs)

(Image: bhg)

6. The Ladder Back. Instead of using the seat of your chair as a bench, use the back, turned upside down for a useful towel rack with space for a few bits and bobs. Perfect in the bathroom or the kitchen (think teatowels and herbs).

The next time you see an old chair and aren't too impressed, we're sure you'll see all its amazing potential!

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(All Images: RISD-ID)

Ah, cardboard. Such a versatile creature. Even a humble, simple box can become so many things when you add in a little All Consuming creativity.

Take these students from the Rhode Island School of Design for instance. With some old cardboard and lashings of design, they have created some incredible cardboard chairs.

These Industrial Design students took part in a week long competition to design an original child's chair from one piece of 48" x 80" cardboard that would support at least 55 pounds of small child.

There were castle chairs.

There were mini villages, complete with cardboard characters.

And a very realistic looking log and hippos a la the Eames Elephant classic Vitra design.

All from one simple sheet of cardboard.

The entries were then judged by a classroom full of kids who sat, jumped, tore and played with the designs before picking their favourite. Each child then got whichever designer had made their favourite seat to sign it and then the children got to take that chair home with them.

It's yet another example of the endless possibilities of cardboard and a great way to while away a rainy afternoon and sort out your dining room furniture by upcycling your old cardboard boxes.

And if that's not enough to get you rooting around the garage, why not check out our new video all about Cardboard? Or have a wander through the Cardboard Hall of Fame to see what other brilliant things you can make out of this, er, brilliant thing.

(Spotted on Treehugger)

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