Weaving crafts bring new theme of environmental protection

If you talk about home design and hear adjectives like “sustainability” and “environmental friendly”, what is your first reaction? Dreary, or boring? It is true that in the past decade, the attention of the design community to materials and the environment has given home a lot of discounts on aesthetics.

However, the era of difficult exploration seems to have finally been sent away by people. As one of the annual events of the global furniture industry, the 23rd International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) closed on May 17 in New York, USA. The expo, which lasted only four days, contributed to the amount of information like the Big Bang. Among the more than 500 exhibits from 39 countries, it is not hard to find traces from minimalism to the complicated knitting. Under the symphony of multiple voices, environmental protection is still the strongest sound. In the past, the gap between aesthetics and environmental protection has been gradually filled. To be environmentally friendly, it is also fun. Therefore, weaving handicrafts has naturally become a major theme of contemporary environmental protection.

Greener and simpler to enter the exhibition hall, from the carpet to the sofa, all from the recycling of waste: the carpet is stitched with pockets of old jeans, the armrests of the sofa are discarded computer motherboards, and the cushion and backrest materials are from the car safety band.

If in a decade or even five years ago, such sustainable materials may be able to set off small waves at the fair. But today, this is no longer news. However, the "Apple Box Chair" designed by Finnish designer Hannu Kahonen still succeeded in catching people's attention. The Scandinavian designer's work, all raw materials are taken from the wooden box transported Apple. After assembly, wood bars of varying lengths have evolved into a chair, and even a storage space is left on the seat cushion. Such a chair can be assembled at home. Practical, and at the same time satisfying the fun of hands-on, it's no wonder that this uncomplicated work is acclaimed.

From the apple box to the chair, such material changes can be traced. The wall decoration material that has made a comeback in this expo is confusing. This product launched by the United States, Trove, looks like the general wallpaper. Incredibly, its raw materials are calcium carbonate, limestone, and marble. After special treatment, these hard materials become as soft as paper, and also have the advantage that common wallpaper can hardly reach: antibacterial, not easy to yellow, easy to hang, and can also be degraded.

Compared with the exaggerated design of Bo’s eyeballs that have often emerged from previous expositions, the current furniture exposition explodes the practical style. Well-made, affordable home products have become mainstream. Mei Ao-xue, a beautiful girl designer from Hong Kong, once made a name for himself in the furniture industry due to the superposition of dish-shaped lamps. The recycling box she brought this time still adheres to the simple and straightforward route. However, under the simple appearance, the functionality of the work has been carefully designed. Above the main body, there is room for the classification of bottles and batteries.

Another female designer, Juliette Warmenhoven, brought music boxes with potatoes as raw materials. Juliette Warmenhoven's "Everyday Growing" decorative series uses everyday glass jars and wire devices to show the natural growth of green life before people. The peculiar potato music box is also part of this series. Potatoes are placed in plastic bird cages, and the shells will play music by hand turning. In most people's minds, potato sprouts are often associated with decay, and through this work, Warmenhoven hopes to not only change people's established views, but also allow the audience to experience the habits of life in the process of watching potato sprouts. Embrace the vitality and beauty. "This process will certainly make people look brighter." Warmenhoven said with confidence.

More complicated and more interesting If the design allows home furnishings to avoid mediocrity, then the energy and effort that the creator puts on makes these everyday objects more glossy.

Olek, an artist from New York, compiled a wool coat for every item in the room. He is not the only weaving enthusiast. Lara Knutson, also from New York, showed her white crochet shades for the lamp. Under this lampshade, the lamp looks like an Irish fisherman, full of rustic and lovely atmosphere.

All these weavings are done by the artist with their hands and crochet. This process is tedious and laborious. However, compared with Peter Sandback, the work of Olek and Lara can only be considered a trivial task. In order to complete the "nail table", Sandback used 5,800 aluminum nails. He mounted the nails into a black oak table, and the aluminum nails were turned into two blooming dahlias on the tabletop.

Even though Sandback's work was amazing, he still had to court three points before Leah Piepgras's work. This female artist from Boston, USA, draws the organs involved in the digestion process on a set of plates. Placing these dishes of different sizes into a single word, the digestive system of the human body is presented in a coherent manner. All drawing is done manually by Piepgras himself. The reference is just an anatomical book. “I chose to paint in blue and use pink to represent x-rays.” Piepgras’s choices were her own considerations. Given the pattern was eye-catching enough, she hoped that the soft colors would ease the sensory stimuli.

“After all, I don’t want people to turn nausea,” she explained. “But I hope this set of dishes will arouse people's spiritual satisfaction when they dine.” In her view, the demand for home furnishings has not been limited until now. Beautiful, practical, but also as a medium to promote user-to-user communication. This set of topical cutlery clearly reached her goal.