Source: image capture from SIC interview
Since 2015, we have also begun investigating the option of using the tube scraps left over after cutting to size for modular tube racks. In previous years, we used them for our clients’ rolls of boards – as in the image below, but upon closer analysis, we noticed more creative and commercial possibilities.
Thus, we began creating and producing design objects that serve as lighting fixtures, the first test being a Christmas tree model for our office, which we also used during the 2018 holidays and at exhibitions.
The cylindrical remnants, of different cardboard shades, diameters and lengths, respectively texture thicknesses, are creatively joined in various compositions and proportions on a rigid cardboard support panel.
Compared to other objects, which are mounted ecologically by mechanical fastening, without adhesives, in this case we used aracet to support the panel. For lighting we used LED bulbs – here we even used a winter tree installation with uniform white light – which we removed through holes inside most of the cylinders in the tubes.
The programmed and varied play of LEDs further creates a very captivating animated and dynamic effect, both through the rhythmicity of the installation itself, but also through the various juxtaposed shadows left by the unevenly sized cardboard. The compositional possibilities, together with the options for the type of LED strips, are unlimited.
In December 2016 I was invited to organize a creative recycling workshop to create such a Christmas Tree, ecologically reinterpreted for the ECOTEC Association, Bucharest, where, with the support of a group of volunteers and members of the association, I built such an object in 2 hours, having at my disposal tubes collected or recovered by them.
Together we cut the fragments to sizes more suitable for the concept, glued them, perforated a white painted board, made of sawdust and included the installation – for this model having a variant of red LED lights available.
In this way, we have reached the stage where we recycle and creatively upcycle at another level for the leftovers derived from the production of furniture from waste. We call this process Upcycle 2.0 or Upcycle squared and for this type of objects we are considering a collection/vernissage for 2020.