How a new material influences new ideas
It is always an exciting challenge to come across new materials and figure out how to utilise them, particularly, in this case, with a material that gets a second life....
Norsminde, Denmark
The Paper Paste products are designed by the Danish design studio Hans Thyge & Co. They live and work on the coast overlooking the sea south of the city of Aarhus. When the opportunity to develop a complete range of products from recycled paper arose, the studio immediately accepted the challenge. The over 100-year-old tradition of using paper scraps to create aesthetic objects keeps a beautiful, circular story about human ingenuity alive.
Hans Thyge & Co is made up of a team of talented designers who have been creating innovative designs with companies around the world for over 30 years. They believe that every design should tell a story and represent their creativity, culture, and values.
With Paper Paste, they found a material and texture that allows strong poetic expression via direct contact with the hands creating it. The iconic designs emerged from the material itself, with the paper's heritage and cultural significance sparking creative thinking. Together, we have tried to find and capture paper’s essence, to form a range of sustainable, functional and aesthetic interior items.
After the first drawings are made, they then begin to create 3D renderings and prototypes. Working with the manufacturer, they determine whether the shape and structure are possible, as working with paper paste has its limitations.
They quickly discovered that one of the most important factors was the colours. Paper paste is usually a dull grey, so they worked with subtle tones as if the earth had coloured the paper so that the object would end up with a deep relation to nature.
It is always an exciting challenge to come across new materials and figure out how to utilise them, particularly, in this case, with a material that gets a second life....