Japanese designer Fumi Masuda, whose Pile Chair was featured this morning, was recently in São Paulo, Brazil to give a lecture about sustainable design. He also conducted workshops involving Brazilian and Japanese design students and some members of Coopamare, a group of people that earn their bread collecting used papers from the street to sell for the recycling industry. I had the chance to talk to Fumi before the lecture. He told me a little bit about his history and offered some interesting perspectives on the sustainable design market…

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Post tags: Fumi Masuda, Japanese Designer, Japanese Furniture Design, Japanese Sustainable Designer, Open House Inc

For many people, there’s nothing worse than the thought of moving. But now at least you can find some solace in the moving process knowing that any discarded furniture may have a second life as Fumi Masuda’s stunning Pile Chair, which is built out of old and discarded furniture collected by movers. The idea came from a Japanese moving company, Mover, that provides a service to collect discarded furniture (think of all the sofas and chairs you see strewn on the sidewalk). As an alternative to disposal, the company figured that the furniture could be used as raw material for new designs, instead of the end product. Fumi Masuda’s Pile Chair emerged from a collaborative project with students and teachers from the Design Department at Tokyo Zokei University and Mover.

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The desert beaches of southern coast of São Paulo, Brazil, are places of inspiration for environmentally-sensitive architect and designer Carlos Motta. In the 1970’s he spent a lot of time at the beaches, collecting driftwood carried in on the tide. Today, in his office, in Vila Madalena, São Paulo, Motta developes and produces furniture, sculpture, and architectural products all from recycled wood. Using driftwood, recycled wood from demolitions, pieces found in shores and rivers, as well as material certified by FSO, decreases the environmental footprint of his work.


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Post tags: Beachwood furniture, Brazilian furniture designer, Brazilian sustainable furniture designer, Carlos Motta, Driftwood furniture, Gallery Mandalian Paillard in Paris, Recycled wood furniture