Cardboard Cube

I have been hoarding cardboard for almost a year now in order to make a little cube of a stool for my living room. I know this look will not be for everyone but I have had a love affair with cardboard for some time now.

I made these pieces when I was still a Graduate student at RISD in the mid 90's. I was inspired to work in cardboard from Frank Ghery's Easy Edges pieces from the early 1970's, mostly because I just loved the texture of the sliced up corregated edges. This was a major turning point for me in my own design process and thinking. Up to this point, I had only worked in wood, which is a long, arduous and exacting process, whereas cardboard is fast and intuitive and forgiving. In other words, I realized that working in hardwood was sort of boring and a drag, whereas cardboard was fast and fun.

This cube sort of reminds me the plywood cube Tom Sachs made with zero waste. It is at the same time minimalist and then not. Just as an funny aside, Tom Sachs made that cube when working in the wood shop of none other than...Frank Ghery.  

Because I no longer have a woodshop, this took a little time to make. Previously I sliced up my cardboard on a table saw, or if I wanted a more feathery edge, I used a bandsaw. For this, I used a razor blade. Oooof. 

I cut my cardboard on the diagonal, so that I didn't have two distinct sides (one running with the corregation, the other across it). I like the variation that I got with the different recycled boxes I used.  

In order to give the top texture, I ripped off the top layer of paper and exposed the corregation on the top sheet. My experience with cardboard is that it is super durable and if cut up in this way, it only gets better with age.

Glue up is very simple with a foam roller and Elmers.

I would glue about 4 or 5 sheets and then stand on it for a few moments to get a tighter seal. I eyeballed the alignment for squareness.

We use this as a stool and a side table to hold drinks.

Hope you enjoyed this little project. I sure did.