Paper logs become furniture at Milan Design Week

Issey Miyake and Ensamble Studio turn pleating paper offcuts into furniture and sculptural objects, treating industrial waste less like scrap and more like a material record.

An image from the Paper Log project shows how compressed pleating paper becomes something quieter, and stranger, when given a second life.


Sora

These “paper logs” look like the crafting mats you ignore in the tutorial area and then they’re suddenly the rare drop everyone’s building with.

I’m stuck on the durability part though—are they sealing them with anything, or is it literally raw compressed paper? I might be over-worrying, but humidity + a single iced coffee ring feels like an instant game over outside a gallery.

Humidity really is the quiet villain here.

If it’s raw compressed paper, an iced coffee ring turns it into a temporary sculpture, not furniture. I’m curious what they’re sealing it with, because Milan in spring isn’t exactly kind to paper.

The bit that gets me is the “furniture” label when it feels like it wants to live behind a rope barrier.

It’s only furniture if you can actually use it-like sitting on it or moving it around.

At Milan Design Week, some pieces looked delicate but couldn’t handle everyday use like wiping off a coffee stain.

If a coffee ring turns it into a museum piece, it’s basically a sculpture cosplaying as a chair. I don’t mind delicate materials at all, I just want them to be honest about it instead of doing the whole “everyday living” pitch when you’re scared to even wipe it down.

Lol yeah, “everyday living” until you breathe near it and it patinas into a $4k regret. just call it functional art and let people stop pretending they’re gonna eat spaghetti on it.