One of the most apparent themes of this year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair was sustainable design. In the space of five short years I’ve seen the proportion of designers and manufacturers showing/talking responsible design grow from a handful at this show to more than a third (at least of everyone I spoke with). Almost everyone had a green story of some sort to tell. Unfortunately much of that sustainable product was pricey, reflecting the still nascent sustainable materials industry and the fact that much of what was presented was handmade. One notable exception was Chun-wei Liao’s Transformer collection. Transformer is a modular cardboard system that, true to its name, can be made into anything from a pendant light to sit down furniture.

The system is composed of flat packed cardboard elements that can be folded and assembled into a lamp or seating. It is surprisingly robust and durable, the folded geometric shapes fit into slots in larger flat pieces that are then connected together to form a coffee table for example. The resulting structure is surprisingly strong. Here’s a picture of Chun-wei sitting on a Transformer stool that minutes earlier was just a few flat pieces of cardboard.

The system is flexible in many ways, it can be scaled for almost any size, the cardboard can be painted or printed, and it can be used for both furniture and lighting. Here’s a photo of one of a Transformer pendant lamp.

A London based industrial designer by way of Taiwan, Chun-wei moved to the UK in 2006 to attend the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design to do a Masters Degree in Furniture Design. His goal; to challenge the industrial manufacturing complex to create mass-produced, affordable and sustainable lighting and furniture. The Transformer collection is proof that he is well on his way to attain his objective.