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| Mieke Meijer's Newspaper Wood |
How many times, as a student, have we all created something for assessment and then promptly put it away as we moved on to the next assignment? Well, that's exactly how Mieke Meijer's Newspaper Wood began its inception... and its four year hiatus until Meijer met Arjan van Raadshooven and Anieke Branderhorst of Dutch designlabel Vij5. It was with their mentoring and manufacturing knowledge that Newspaper Wood was able to move from 'great idea' to innovative product.
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| Newspaper Wood creations by eRNs + Greetje van Tiem |
While the recycling of newspaper is certainly not new, the quirky idea of turning it back into wood has the appealing quality of a reversal. I think that's what makes this product so exciting - there's a fabulous circular motion to this process of wood - paper - wood. I also love the simplicity of the layers the paper adhered and cut to reveal a pattern similar to the grain of wood or the rings in a tree.
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| Newspaper Wood by Mieke Meijer |
For the Milan Design Week 2011, Vij5 invited a group of Dutch designers to experiment with the Newspaper Wood material and present their creations as part of the Vij5 exhibition. I've picked out some of my favourites for this post from rENs, Breg Hanssen, Greetje an Tiem and Ontwerpduo. By all accounts the Newspaper Wood doesn't have the strength of its original source, but they've been able to make some cute products from it, don't you think?
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| Breg Hanssen |
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Greetje van Tiem |
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| rENs |
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| Ontwerpduo |
For more information, visit Meike Meijer's or Vij5's websites.
Images Courtesy of Vij5
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