I was reading about this designer Frank Willems who created the Madam Rubens. Fascinating concept to reuse old mattresses that are a huge environmental waste because the are one of the more difficult products to recycle! He takes these mattresses, tapes and ties them together to compress and then upholsters them in a plastic layer and makes them into chairs by fastening them to antique legs and arms. SO cool! Read about it on the comment i left its really interesting his inspiration and idea!
After studying advertising and presentation techniques at St. Lucas College and the Design Academy Eindhoven , Frank Willems worked briefly with rising design luminary Joris Laarman. Now participating in various group exhibitions and creating unique studio work, Willems has joined the ranks of many young Dutch designers for whom personal expression is paramount.
The Madam Rubens collection, his most fully realized furniture design, saw its gestation in an Eindhoven research project into the life of waste materials. Frank explained in an email: "At a visit to a waste processing facility I learned almost all types of waste appeared to have a destination, except mattresses. They cause trouble because they get stuck between the shredders...For this reason, I started to work with old mattresses."
Willems repurposes old mattresses, bending and folding them like giant pieces of bubblegum, then lashes the volumes to the bases of antique furnishings, creating quirky hybrids. The entire piece is then sprayed with a hygienic, water-resistant foam coating, and finished with a pliable, soft paint. Two of the most recent additions to the concept are the chair, Plus de Madam Rubens (top right, click for larger view), and the Petit Pouf (above right). The original stool, Madam Rubens (above left), is currently featured in a group exhibition devoted to seating (or non-seating) elements called Please Do Not Sit!, at Tools Galerie in Paris. It is the first time his work has been shown in France.
After studying advertising and presentation techniques at St. Lucas College and the Design Academy Eindhoven , Frank Willems worked briefly with rising design luminary Joris Laarman. Now participating in various group exhibitions and creating unique studio work, Willems has joined the ranks of many young Dutch designers for whom personal expression is paramount.
ReplyDeleteThe Madam Rubens collection, his most fully realized furniture design, saw its gestation in an Eindhoven research project into the life of waste materials. Frank explained in an email: "At a visit to a waste processing facility I learned almost all types of waste appeared to have a destination, except mattresses. They cause trouble because they get stuck between the shredders...For this reason, I started to work with old mattresses."
Willems repurposes old mattresses, bending and folding them like giant pieces of bubblegum, then lashes the volumes to the bases of antique furnishings, creating quirky hybrids. The entire piece is then sprayed with a hygienic, water-resistant foam coating, and finished with a pliable, soft paint. Two of the most recent additions to the concept are the chair, Plus de Madam Rubens (top right, click for larger view), and the Petit Pouf (above right). The original stool, Madam Rubens (above left), is currently featured in a group exhibition devoted to seating (or non-seating) elements called Please Do Not Sit!, at Tools Galerie in Paris. It is the first time his work has been shown in France.