everyday, piles of newspapers are discarded and recycled into new paper. graduate of the design academy in eindhoven, mieke meijer has come up with a solution to use this surplus of paper. using a roller, pages of old newspaper are wound together very tightly to resemble a log of wood. special water soluble glue is used to adhere the pieces of paper to each other. the end result is a material which carries similar characteristics to that of wood and can be cut, milled and sanded. because the newspapers are rolled together, they also have the aesthetic of wood. when a newspaperwood log is cut, the layers of paper appear like lines of a wood grain or the rings of a tree.

newspaperwood at dutch design week 08 newspaperwood can be cut on a saw the same way a log of wood can

newspaperwood at dutch design week 08 a detail of the newspaperwood showing the numerous layers of newspaper which make a wood grain effect

newspaperwood at dutch design week 08 when sliced length-wise and width-wise, the newspaperwood takes on the same aesthetic of regular wood

more mieke meijer: http://www.miekedingen.nl vij5: http://ontwerplabel.vij5.nl dutch design week: http://www.dutchdesignweek.nl — via bloesem, green light district, shapeways