As maestro Frank Gehry discovered many years back with his iconic Wiggle Chair, no matter how "insubstantial" the material, if you glue enough properly-oriented layers of it together you eventually arrive at a formidable structure-resistant to both compressive and shearing forces. While Gehry's chosen material was cardboard, Danish designer Mathias Bengtsson goes one better: his Zebra Chair is assembled entirely of paper.

Zebra Chair. Designed and Manufactured by Mathias Bengtsson.

The Zebra Chair Earns its Ecological Stripes

Looking at Zebra's serpentine silhouette and audaciously accommodating curves, one wouldn't likely conjecture that it's made of a wind-will-take-it-away substance like paper (perhaps papier mache), but that is the God's honest truth. Following Gehry's cue, Bengtsson aligned and glued so many strips in vertical fashion.

Bengtsson, lately renowned for the ingenious machinations with carbon fiber on display in his Spun Bench series, lays claim to resource conservation and a perpetually replenishing product stream with Zebra-the paper therein is exclusively post-consumer.

But Zebra is not only sensitive to our assorted resource quandaries, it's also aware of our assorted aesthetic proclivities. The look is not jungle chic per say, but rather more of an Alfred Hitchcock-esque post modern psychedelia. The alternating, undulating black and white swirls enhance the piece's pronounced texturality while engaging in a bit of visual/perceptory gamesmanship. Stare at Mathias Bengtsson's Zebra chair long enough and you just might be enter an altered state-one in which sustainable, eco-aware furniture dominates the A&D landscape, and does so with exceptional moxie and whimsical joie de vivre.

Via Inhabitat.

About the Designer: After finishing up a degree from the Art Center College in Switzerland, designer Mathias Bengtsson returned to Denmark where he founded and formed the collective known as "Panic": "Panic's mission was to give young designers a voice within the Danish furniture industry, and as a result, they succeeded in creating new opportunities." Bengtsson has continued in this exploratory/avant-garde spirit with his "Slice" and "Homage to Panton" Chairs. Bengtsson lives and works in London where he frequently collaborates with his wife, graphic designer Sara Hild©n Bengtsson.