Designers, Style

Corrugated Cardboard Furniture and Sculpture – Jason Schneider

While googling paper museums recently (oh the things I do for fun :)) I came across Elevated Cardboard, an exhibit that opens on April 5 at The Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco. It will feature cardboard sculptures created by ten artists, one of whom is Jason Schneider.

I think you’ll enjoy seeing these fascinating images that prove Jason’s keen appreciation of the lowly material. Of course, lowly doesn’t apply when he takes cardboard in hand.
EXQUISITE-CARDBOARD-TABLE
EXQUISITE CARDBOARD TABLE (spinning table) 2010 – corrugated cardboard, ash, milk paint 40″ x 17″

Jason’s BFA and MFA degrees are in Furniture Design. Although his training material was wood, he  told me, “I think in corrugated cardboard. I approach my work as a woodworker, having access to a state of the art woodshop at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center [in Snowmass Village, Colorado]. The tools I use most are the table saw, bandsaw, the woodturning lathe and sanders and grinders.” 
cardboard-cabinet-SPIN
SPIN 2007 corrugated cardboard, ash, milk paint 17″ x 36″

SPIN is a small chest of drawers made of corrugated cardboard and ash. Each drawer unit is resting on a lazy susan, allowing the piece to rotate to an infinite number of drawer arrangements.

“A big part of my interest in working with corrugated cardboard is starting with a flat sheet of familiar cardboard stock and building the layers up to something that I can take to the machines. I can change the direction of the corrugations and ultimately change the visual texture and transparency of the forms I make. I often combine painted wood elements to complement and help support the cardboard.”
cardboard-sculpture-WOBBLE-TOPS
WOBBLE TOPS 2006 corrugated cardboard, poplar, milkpaint – approx. 5″ x 4″ diameter

Jason looks at creating cardboard furniture, sculpture, and two-dimensional artwork as “an exciting challenge that often results in a surprisingly elegant, and sometimes whimsical, surface and form.”
cardboard-sculpture-PLASTER-PUSH
PLASTER PUSH 2007 corrugated cardboard, plaster 5″ x 10″ diameter

He is currently the Studio Coordinator of the Furniture Design and Woodworking program at the Anderson Arts Ranch Center where he will teach two woodworking workshops in June. A Corrugated Cardboard workshop is scheduled for the summer of 2015.
YELLOW-CABINET-cardboard-ash-detail
YELLOW CABINET (detail) 2006 corrugated cardboard, ash, milkpaint 42″ x 6″ x 8″
In June of this year (13-15), Jason will be demonstrating how to turn corrugated cardboard at the American Association of Woodturners Annual Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona.
table-studies-cardboard-ash
TABLE STUDIES 2010 corrugated cardboard, ash, milk paint – 16″ x 16″ x 24″ each

EXQUISITE-CARDBOARD-sculpture
EXQUISITE CARDBOARD  (detail) 2010 corrugated cardboard and plaster 12″ x 5

See more examples of Jason Schneider’s work on his website.