Once upon a time there was just one family working with cardboard in the Marche region near Osimo, but then there came a wonderful original idea: why not use all of this cardboard as a material for furnishings and create all manner of goods from doors to chairs, from lamps to cupboards. And so it was. Now the company Kubedesign is working on a new frontier: products for the outdoors, even cardboard fountains, a real challenge to the assumption that water and cardboard are impossibile bedfellows.

©Kubedesign

“Through years of research and personal challenge, a small dedicated group of people came together to make a dream come true. Kubedesign is a world pioneer where it comes to architecture in cardboard, and today is appreciated as a highly successful, well-known company which conceives furnishings and designs that work anywhere” explains Nazzareno Mengoni, the owner of the company. Sustainability, research and great design are the three main pillars of this company that discovered the incredible potential of cardboard against a backcloth of general surprise and a fair amount of scepticism. Cardboard produces light structures which are easily transported. They can be adapted and personalised for a variety of contexts and provide a ready answer for the needs of modern life, which is increasingly mobile and orientated towards change. It is also true that cardboard has become fashionable. Even the papal throne commissioned for the visit of the Pope Benedict XVI to Malta was designed by Kubedesign and of course made of cardboard. Apparently the Holy Father found it extremely comfortable and much to his liking.

©Kubedesign

The company is currently interested in expanding into overseas markets and its message regarding the infinite potential of the material, which up to now has been considered a second-rate product, is now reaching many other countries. Obviously the cardboard undergoes a series of complex treatments and processes in order to make the material as resistant and long-lasting as possible. The aim is to make it suitable for use in furnishings as well as rendering it aesthetically pleasing. The company has recently introduced a new collection, the XXLight, designed by Roberto Giacomucci for elements of light, as a part of the wider XXL Collection which has met with great success since it went on sale in 2013.

©Kubedesign

“What is fundamental for us is the concept of a culture of ecology” concludes Nazzareno Mengoni“because cardboard is one of the least polluting materials that is known. In addition to this we are always open to new experimentation and research since we believe that this sector can grow to become a business on a global scale”.

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