To Teachers:

Please consider this project brief as an expansion to your existing Cardboard Chair Design Project. Combining inner tubes with cardboard offers a vehicle for teaching about
full material lifecycles and more sustainable circular economies.

• Click to review ‘Collect & Prep’ before beginning activity

  See additional info sheet:
  Techniques for Bike Tube Rubber (pdf) 

Objective:

• Explore cutting and assembly techniques for use with flat surfaces—cardboard 

• Adapt to the constraints of an existing curved surface—used bicycle inner tubes

• Explore rigidity, strength, stretch and assembly techniques

• Consider sustainability issues: circular economies, reuse, zero waste, reclaimed, recycled, and recyclable materials

• Refer to MacPherson Design Methodology (pdf)

SKETCHBOOK/LOGBOOK 

• Use for visual thinking–mind mapping, inspirational sketches, and final design drawings

Stretch Your Cardboard Chair
Industrial Design Project
with Inner Tube Rubber

Suitable for advanced high school or college/university level industrial design class

MATERIALS:  Corrugated Cardboard, Used Bike Inner Tubes, Transparent Packaging Tape, White Glue, Hot Glue, Glue Gun, Utility Knife/Exacto Knife, Cutting Mat, Scissors, and a Ruler

Chairs created by students in Mandana MacPherson’s Pre College Industrial Design class at California College of the Arts

Design Brief:

Design and create an object for sitting
Your primary materials will be corrugated cardboard and inner tube rubber. No wood, plastic, metal, or other non-paper reinforcement. You will experiment with contrasts: the cardboard requires specific techniques to allow it to curve and bend, while the rubber requires techniques to make it lay flat. Small 3D “sketch models” from paper or scrap cardboard and rubber are essential. By testing prototypes, you will discover strengths and weaknesses.

• Your seating object must support the designer for at least 5 minutes

• It must look interesting and “clean” enough for your portfolio

• All designs must fold flat or disassemble for low-cost shipping

• Project duration: five days