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DesignTide Tokyo 2012: Paper-Wood by Drill Design

By Core Jr - November 1, 2012

in Materials | Product Design | Design Festivals

Text by Rachel Carvosso; photos by Junya Hirokawa

Through a solid three years of experimentation and tinkering, Yusuke Hayashi and Yoko Yasunishi of Drill Design have arrived at "Paper-Wood" which is now sold as a material used by a range of different designers and companies to make everyday objects (furniture, stationary, garden and kitchen utensils).

According to Yoko, the initial combination they came up with used acrylic and wood but the latest series (four and five) use paper and basswood. Since the colors aren't painted on, the material always retains its bright colors, even when it wears down. When I asked what kind of paper they use, I was quietly told it's a 'company secret.'

"...the first two years we experimented in workshops to find out what materials, colors and combinations worked best... we wanted to explore the concept of adding things to wood to make new kinds of 'layer cake' materials," explains Yoko. Look closely at a slice of Paper-Wood and you can clearly see the "layer cake" she's talking about—each layer alternates between, well, paper and wood.

Many of Drill Design's early creations are currently being exhibited at DesignTide, including the 'Paper-Wood STOOL' (2009) and the more recent 'Paper-Wood TREE' and 'Paper-Wood HORSE' (2011). From a distance the horse looks like it's made from a smooth pale wood, but get up close and you can see the sandwiched layers of colorful paper. This adds a particularly nice touch in the cute Christmas tree toy with a design that alternates wood with blue/green or red/orange paper in each of the detachable parts.

As winners of a Good Design (2010) and Red Dot Award (product design 2012), I'm curious to see where Yoko and Yusuke`s Paper-Wood will go next.

DesignTide Tokyo / Tokyo Designers Week 2012 coverage:
» DTT: The Koshirae Light
» DTT: Paper-Wood by Drill Design
» TDW: Graphic Desing Meets Traditional Japanese Craft in Shinna Asano's Furniture

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Erik Johansson

12 years ago

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I'm guessing bamboo or hemp. Both are phenomenally renewable.
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supafluous

12 years ago

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@Jay - the drill design website says the stuff is made at a plywood factory. http://www.drill-design.com/work-total/paper-wood

I'd like to know exactly how "green" this if it's using the same glue as plywood.

wikipedia says:
"Plywood for indoor use generally uses the less expensive urea-formaldehyde glue which has limited water resistance, while outdoor and marine-grade plywood are designed to withstand rot, and use a water resistant phenol-formaldehyde glue to prevent delamination and to retain strength in high humidity." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plywood#Production
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jay

12 years ago

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Amazed how you got through that article, including tryign to describe the product, without once mentioning the word 'Plywood' - One of the worlds most common wood products, which this is bascially exaclty the same as but with an alternating paper substrate rather than several layers of wood laid up with alternating grain directions.
Very nice items but where/how is there any benefit over aforementioned plywood? _ is it chaper, flexier? Or it just a colour thing?
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Taz

12 years ago

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Similar effect to this:
http://www.tasmanmunrodesign.com/albums/album_image/7643439/7155756.htm
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