As I have already mentioned, cardboard elements of interior design are becoming more and more popular. For the last years we could observe many interesting and inspiring products made of this material: toys, all kind of accessories and furniture. Keeping in line with the idea of environment protection cardboard shows various faces: from retro stylizations to modern outlook, from disguised painted images to sauté versions.

Products created by Laboratoryart.eu belong to the strict party in cardboard use. Experimental searchings in the areas of cardboard texture and eco friendly materials led by Laboratoryart.eu ended up in forming aesthetic minimal look of the chocks a biodegradable seats which can be used in many different ways; as a seat or a table or just as an object fulfilling the space with the touch of nature.

The idea of cardboard furniture is nothing new. It's quite old actually. First cardboard furniture appeared in 1920s amongst the works of the designer Gerrit Rietveld. However they had to wait another 60 years to become popular. Since then, they are subject of experiments and source of inspiration for the designers from all over the world.

One of the companies which offer the variety of hand made cardboard furniture is Kartooni. They use the special constructional technique for production, which resemble building a house. A basic construction made of strong corrugated board is covered with a layer of another durable cardboard. Thanks to the construction all reinforcements are invisible and the furnishing remain very light yet sturdy. The raw piece of furniture can be painted, embellished and polished at discretion. For the first sight it's hard to recognize the ready made product as a cardboard made (unless you choose a version of natural cardboard, of course).

Guess what was one of my children's favourite toy? Our new washing machine cardboard packaging. We have made a house of it and the children have decorated it with crayons. They have played with it for another 5 or 6 months until it got totally damaged and we had to get rid of it. And then there was a black despair and a bereavement...

Children's preference for cardboard houses is not just a marketing trick or a myth spread by ecology fanatics. Kids do like having their own space where they can create and hide – the room is too big and too accessible for adults. The cardboard house is just right size and it offers a space for child's decorations – all the walls inside and outside – and for his/her secrets.

I don't have a cat. What's more, I haven't even considered having a cat. I find them too whimsical and independent (but I may be wrong – I have never had a cat!) although they enchant me with their grace and beauty... But if I had a cat, I would like to provide him or her carefully thought-out and designed products dedicated to cats. I have found such things at Kittypod, established in 1998 in California by Elizabeth Paige Smith.