Cardboard

Could cardboard really lift a person into the air? YouTuber Peter Sripol put this idea to the test by building a sit-in cardboard airplane and pushing it to the edge of flight, showing the potential of even the humblest of materials.

It may be mostly used for packaging, but cardboard is a surprisingly capable building material in the right hands, as highlighted by Shigeru Ban Architects with its eye-catching Blue Ocean Dome, which was created for Expo 2025.

Non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, petroleum-based EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam packaging is not eco-friendly stuff. There could soon be a greener and snazzier-looking alternative, however, in the form of origami-folded cardboard.

Humanitaria has created a cardboard bed for the critical first 24 hours of a humanitarian emergency. The beds can be manufactured at 1,000 units per hour for a 10th of the cost, assembled 200 times quicker, and landed where needed 100 times faster.

Useful as they are, telepresence robots can be prohibitively expensive. The Smartipresence cuts the price of entry into the telepresence world right down by making use of the ubiquitous smartphone and cardboard.

​Cardboard is generally used as packaging, to house new instruments during transit for example. But we've seen a number of gear innovations actually built using cardboard over the years, and the latest to join the cardboard band is the Beatbox, a MIDI drum machine built into cardboard housing.​

​Signal Snowboards notes the integral role that music plays in boarding, and has previously demonstrated its love for mixing the two in cardboard with a snowboard and a Stratocaster guitar fashioned from the packaging material. Now the company has made a working drum kit using cardboard.​

Amsterdam-based furniture company Fiction Factory recently released a novel modular tiny house built from cardboard. Named Wikkelhouse, it can be assembled in just a day and comes in multiple sizes and configurations.

DJ QuestionMark has developed an all-in-one turntable system in a box that's designed to get those new to vinyl spinning and scratching in minutes. The Spinbox should also appeal to tinkering types, as it comes as a build-it-yourself kit

Cardboard is versatile stuff and, aside from packaging, has been used to make everything from a helmet to a bicycle, and even a church and guitar. The latest addition to the ranks is the Foldo Bebe, a flatpack cardboard baby crib that promises to be lightweight, durable, and green.

Japan's Shigeru Ban is a bone-fide starchitect best known for using his considerable talents to design temporary low-cost emergency housing using materials like beer crates and cardboard tubes. Two of his innovative shelters, plus other works, are currently on display in Sydney's SCAF art gallery.

The latest vintage-inspired camera, currently funding on Kickstarter, focuses further into the classic photo-taking experience. The cardboard-made Jollylook is designed to develop instant prints from analog hardware.