WHEN ARPER REINTRODUCED the iconic Catifa Carta chair at this year’s Salone del Mobile, the furniture titan also heralded its collaboration with Scandinavian biogenic material company PaperShell. With its signature thin silhouette intact, Catifa Carta became the first commercial product to don PaperShell’s dynamic technology, which reinstates paper as a durable, artificial wood.

“[As a] tree grows up, it takes the carbon from the atmosphere, and we reduce that tree to paper with a single life,” says PaperShell cofounder and CEO Anders Breitholtz. “We should be able to do something much more advanced around this.”

A designer and former technology scout, Breitholtz sought to unlock solutions for steering the design industry toward a circular economy. “Whether it’s fashion, automotive, sports, whatever, there’s always a hunt for new materials,” he says. “But the reality is that there aren’t many materials that are actually viable in an industrial context.” Following some exploration with advisory service Material ConneXion, Breitholtz teamed up with fellow PaperShell cofounder Mathieu Gustafsson in 2018 to begin tests on a new paper alternative.

PaperShell’s material possesses a superior strength to wood through intensive compression molding that merges and cross-links paper fibers and bio-resin. The process reintegrates hemicellulose into the substrate to create a dry prepreg that is then cut into blanks and stacked under a large steel press for shaping and trimming. Production waste is turned into biochar as well, setting the basis for a circular economy. “You get a component which is 100 percent biogenic. There’s no fossil carbon inside. It’s just natural materials,” Breitholtz says. “By pressing it really, really hard, that’s when you have the paper sheets sort of merge together and become a homogeneous material.”

PaperShell’s lightweight, durable, and moldable qualities make it ideal for facades, offering sustainable cladding that withstands weather, supports intricate designs, and reduces environmental impact with carbon-sequestering and biodegradable properties.

A designer and former technology scout, Breitholtz sought to unlock solutions for steering the design industry toward a circular economy. “Whether it’s fashion, automotive, sports, whatever, there’s always a hunt for new materials,” he says. “But the reality is that there aren’t many materials that are actually viable in an industrial context.” Following some exploration with advisory service Material ConneXion, Breitholtz teamed up with fellow PaperShell cofounder Mathieu Gustafsson in 2018 to begin tests on a new paper alternative.

PaperShell’s material possesses a superior strength to wood through intensive compression molding that merges and cross-links paper fibers and bio-resin. The process reintegrates hemicellulose into the substrate to create a dry prepreg that is then cut into blanks and stacked under a large steel press for shaping and trimming. Production waste is turned into biochar as well, setting the basis for a circular economy. “You get a component which is 100 percent biogenic. There’s no fossil carbon inside. It’s just natural materials,” Breitholtz says. “By pressing it really, really hard, that’s when you have the paper sheets sort of merge together and become a homogeneous material.”

PaperShell continues to explore the material’s versatility. Testing is currently under way alongside collaborators in the architecture, construction, and recycling communities to develop circular facade panels and cladding. Nearly 50 automotive OEMs including Polestar have also expressed interest in using the material for interior and exterior applications. PaperShell has even entered the sporting goods market with its bindless snowboard known as Papersurf, and Breitholtz and content designer Johan Höög have pressed their material into a vinyl record to divine its sound as well. “The interest in our materials comes from all over,” Breitholtz says. “What we have learned now is that there’s such a diverse use for this.”

Arper CEO Roberto Monti is perhaps PaperShell’s most enthusiastic collaborator, lauding the tech innovator’s mirroring of the manufacturer’s own pillars that aim to enhance human well-being, transition to a circular economy, and reduce environmental impact. The new and improved Catifa Carta 53 marks the beginning of a beautiful—and sustainable—friendship. “The design kind of captures an even better way of thinking of Carta,” Monti says. “It also allowed us to not go for the high-selling object immediately, but actually to start to dedicate to this form, which allows us to do much more.”

Source: metropolismag.com