© Carl Magnus Johansson
Human hair is good for a lot of things: It can sop up oil, be made into eyeglasses, and be used as fertilizer, not to mention it looks great on your head. Swedish designer Ola Giertz has another item to add to the list: It makes great furniture.
© Carl Magnus Johansson
In an effort to do something with the 1,000 miles of hair grown by Swedes every year (based on a rate of seven inches per year and a population of nine million), Giertz teamed up with Studio Västra Sandgatan in Helsingborg to collect hair cut from the salon’s customers’ heads. He used recycled PET bottles to create shells for two poufs, which she filled with the hair.
While the two poufs look comfortable, I find something off-putting about sitting on a pile of hair- it’s hard to imagine it wouldn’t be itchy, no matter how much plastic is between your butt and the hair. But I appreciate the originality of the idea and the willingness to turn to new materials that would otherwise be thrown away. Giertz explains the design:
The project is essentially about finding possibilities and functionality in that which would otherwise be considered ugly. The transparent poufs, highlighting the originality of the stuffing, makes the product dynamic: its color and shape can be changed depending on the stuffing, lending uniqueness to each pouf. There is hope in the idea that old things may have new uses, bringing new things to life, retaining the soul of what they are made of.
It may be weird, but it’s definitely awesome.
© Carl Magnus Johansson
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