“He takes this cardboard tube and makes the three perfect cuts.” That’s what Kasper Salto said to designer Mads Ingvorsen about his Loungechair, which has been named the “Cardboard Chair”(in danish Pap stol). The Cardboard Chair wins a podium place in the “Chair” category in episode 2 of this season’s TV show "Danmarks næste klassiker"/"Denmark’s next classic" from DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation).

In "Danmarks næste klassiker," the five new designers are tasked in episode 2 with creating any type of chair, primarily made from an old, disused piece of furniture. Additionally, the materials the designers choose to add must not be virgin materials.

The purpose of the task is to assess how good the designers are at recycling. However, one might wonder why this recycling practice must start with a disused piece of furniture, as this will likely result in unique designs. A potential risk here is that the furniture might not succeed in a competitive design market, as it probably cannot be translated into commercial production due to being made from a single, disused piece of furniture.

“You must not use virgin materials, i.e., you must use things that are recycled, materials that are recycled; it could also be surplus production from another sector or industry. But not materials that have never been used before,” Pil Bredahl adds about the design task.

Designer Mads Ingvorsen chooses a different approach to the design task. Ingvorsen goes a step further and designs a chair that showcases his skills in, not just recycling, but upcycling while also creating a chair that can be commercialized.

How does he do this? By upcycling industrial waste materials from large-scale productions in Danish industry.

These materials are made available through THE UPCYCL, where all industrial waste materials are evaluated and classified according to New Waste criteria.

By browsing through THE UPCYCL’s material site with a diverse selection of these New Waste materials, Mads Ingvorsen found a large round cardboard tube from the roofing industry. Specifically, the tube had been used as a spool for metal foil in construction and would normally end up as waste, but it is made available to THE UPCYCL’s community so the material can have a second life.

When Mads Ingvorsen presented his furniture to the judges, he argued and explained that it was crucial for him to create a piece of furniture that could potentially become a commercial success without ultimately having to produce the design from virgin materials.

This can be avoided by basing the supply chain on a continuous material flow of industrial residual materials, as this case exemplifies. Because, the cardboard tube is a waste material that keeps coming.

This design process, where industrial waste materials are used instead of virgin materials, is thus a process that reduces CO2 emissions, the consumption of virgin materials, and waste volumes.