Dutch advertising agency Nothing commissioned retro-futuristic Dutch designer Joost van Bleiswijk and design director Alrik Koudenburg to build them an express office space, on a very limited budget.
The result was nothing short of incredible, as within a white box apartment, the designers created a large volume Amsterdam office entirely from super-versatile cardboard.
Nothing Amsterdam office by designers Joost van Bleiswijk and Alrik Koudenburg. Even the stairs are made of cardboard.
The ingenious designers crafted an entire office space—complete with desks, tables, bookshelves, columns, stairs, and even rooms—with carefully cut and folded sheets of 15-millimeter honeycomb cardboard. While each piece is structurally stable, if for any reason one of the items gets damaged, it can be easily and inexpensively replaced.
Tea is served at the Nothing Cardboard Office, on the cardboard conference table
The style of the office was modeled after van Bleiswijk’s "no glue, no screw" technique, in which the form follows function and only the most basic elements remain. This concept is in perfect harmony with the Nothing agency's philosophy, Koudenburg says on his website, "Nothing is about the power of ideas, how a single idea can transform nothing into something. Using a cheap throw-away material to build a unique and memorial work space, seemed a good way to materialize this thought."
A Comfortable U-shaped sofa with recycled patchwork cushions
Drawing inspiration from historic industrial design objects, van Bleiswijk’s design work is sustainable, versatile and timeless, not to mention brilliantly creative. He explains: "I find it interesting to work with construction methods to create techniques that work as dogma for my designs. I create contemporary versions of forgotten objects such as the grandfather clock, hourglass, chessboard and goblet. I draw inspiration from the past and study hundreds of years of product design to find archetypes and conclusions of shapes that lie in history. It's not only the style of design I find very important but the object itself; I choose objects that tell a story."
A meeting room with sliding doors for privacy
Inside the white box, everything is made out of cardboard
Fun, friendly drawings adorn the walls and columns
A cardboard sign featuring the Nothing logo greets at the studio's entrance
Images and information courtesy of Inhabitat and Joost van Bleiswijk Design
