Mieke Meijer / 114

The theme of recycling and efficient use of available resources lies at the centre of the work by the Dutch designer who presents a chair resulting from innovations made with her Newspaper Wood.

For Mieke Meijer, the happy future anticipated by the exhibition of the same name organised by Dutch Invertuals and curated by Wendy Plomp is identified with a project that explores the boundaries of available technology and the scarcity of materials available with the aim of creating an opportunity to use resources more efficiently.

Her contribution to the “Happy Future” exhibition is the New Hybrids chair, the result of a cross-breed of materials emerging from the innovations made over the course of ten years experimenting with Newspaper Wood, a material made with old newspapers that has a structure similar to wood, made using a special layering process.

The work developed over the years using this material has enabled the production of sheets as thin as paper while new folding techniques have reinforced it and produced an aesthetic that corresponds to that of its origin. It is soft to the touch but compact and durable. It may seem that the production of new materials through the conversion of materials leads to the creation of unnecessary resources, instead these raw materials become hybrids capable of interacting with multiple environments and serving many purposes.