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Two New Furniture Making Techniques That Are Challenging Traditional Woodworking 

After thousands of years spent manipulating wood, humans are still inventing new and exciting ways of working with the versatile material. Here are two recently discovered techniques that bring new meaning to the process of woodworking:

Ori Ravgad’s ‘Paipu Technique’

Tel Aviv based Product designer, Ori Ravgad, has created a new technique to construct wooden veneer objects. The 'Paipu Technique,' inspired by the ancient Japanese methodology of rolling sushi, opens the doors to a new dimension of casting and is able to be practiced on a diverse scale of objects. The process involves taking a single sheet of hardwood veneer, drizzling it with adhesive and carefully rolling it into a tube. The tube is then placed into a bespoke mold tool to set overnight.

Even though the 'Paipu Technique’ was inspired by the art of Sushi making, the final outcome is more reminiscent of parts produced by extrusion. When a sheet of veneer is rolled, the original structure of the tree is reassembled into a form that better suits the needs of a specific project. The 'Paipu Technique’ also takes advantage of Rotary Veneer Peeling, which is incredibly efficient in it’s use of timber.

Charlène Guillaume’s 'Bottle It’ Project

After playing around with disposable PET water bottles otherwise destined for landfill, Charlène Guillaume stumbled upon their ability to shrink on contact when exposed to high temperatures. Heat-shrinking plastics are nothing new, but when applied to the task of joining wood, these bottles become something very special.

Unfortunatley, due to its early stage of development, the resulting pieces of furniture end up looking like something Bear Grylls might lash-up in a hurry on an episode of Man vs. Wild:

Despite its aesthetic, this method wonderfully exploits the engineering properties of high-performance Polyester. PET exhibits high tensile strength, high dimensional stability and is resistant to harsh chemicals. This new joinery application makes appropriate use of an often wasted resource. From a sustainability standpoint, Charlène’s process brings up an interesting question - is the “Bottle It” Project up-cycling or down-cycling materials?

This post was originally published at Think Refine.