Cardboard

Nobody wants to put their package in a grubby, sticky box that's clearly been recently used – but many an excellent box is made unappealing by an untidy exterior. That's where Box Refresh – the worst-named product of 2024 – hopes to make a difference.

Thanks to online shopping, an increasing number of goods are being shipped to buyers in cardboard boxes filled with eco-unfriendly EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam. Soon, however, such boxes could be upcycled into a greener alternative to EPS.

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.

Although a great number of wild animals were killed by Australia's recent bushfires, many more now have nowhere to hide from predators. New biodegradable "habitat pods," however, could give smaller creatures such hiding places.

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.​

Nintendo is set to continue its experiment of combining cardboard crafts with video games. The company has unveiled the Nintendo Labo Vehicle Kit, which adds a car, a plane and a submarine to its lineup of cardboard creations.

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.