Leonora Oppenheim
Leonora Oppenheim (@Leonora_O)
Design / Sustainable Product Design
November 25, 2010
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All images via Designboom
We're intrigued by these experimental furniture pieces recently seen on Designboom. Made by Taiwanese design students Chen Wei-Che and Chung Yo-Hsun this chair and table are made from the waste sugarcane fibre bagasse. Now we've seen bagasse used to make disposable cutlery and plates and even as a biofuel for power stations, but this is the first time we've seen it used to make sturdy structures. We wonder how they hold up?
According to Designboom, "for every 10 tonnes of sugarcane crushed during the production process, nearly 3 tonnes of wet bagasse remains as residue. In Taiwan, where the sugar industry is largely present in the local economy, bagasse is
usually thrown out as trash or burned."
While we think using waste materials to make furniture is a great idea, but we're not totally sure about the resolution of these products either functionally or aesthetically.
The papier-mâché process used to make the chair and table, using short bagasse fibers and resin, results in a very fragile and wobbly looking structures. We like the way they've delicately balanced a Macbook on the desk for the photo. I fear I wouldn't want to lean to heavily on it though.