Here's an interesting furniture/materials experiment, done by four students (Chen-Yu Shih, Shin-Chi Yang, Bo-Cheng Guo and Jie-Yi Chen) from the Product Design Department at the Tainan University of Technology in Taiwan. The idea behind this GanDan Bench was to design a piece of furniture made of wood, but not solid pieces of wood, which of course creates offcuts; instead the bulk of the material here is veneer.

Inspired by silkworm cocoons, the team wrapped the veneer around a foam form, yielding a bench that looks solid, yet feels soft when you sit on it.

The team writes that the project was made "without any waste or scrap," though I wish they'd provided more details. They also mention that the veneer-wrapping technique originated from Japan's Aomori prefecture.

My only gripe is that they used foam for the filling. Giving the natural look and waste-minimizing spirit of the project, I'd have dug it if they used something a little more eco-friendly to provide the cushioning.