Five years ago, Samsung recruited brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec to rethink their television design: see Finally, a TV We’d Like to Look At. Now Samsung is improving the packaging for the Bouroullec’s Serif and its two other “Lifestyle” TVs.
As a way to reduce its environmental footprint, the company has committed to using corrugated cardboard—and also to providing DIY ideas for upcycling the leftover boxes. In lieu of recycling, the cardboard can be turned into shelves, a magazine rack, even a cat house. Buyers get an ideas manual and the packaging itself comes imprinted with a series of dots that makes it easy to cut into the required shapes. Here’s a sampling.
Above: Samsung’s Serif, and also The Frame and The Sero tvs, now all come in cardboard “eco-packaging,” formerly known as standard boxes before coated cardboard, plastic, and Styrofoam intruded.
Above: When the boxes are flattened, the dot matrix pattern on the inside serves as a guide to repurposing the cardboard into useful objects, such as this magazine rack (also handy for stowing the television remote). No glue required, but you might consider adding a coat or two of paint.
Above: To inspire new uses for the packaging, Samsung recently collaborated on a competition with the British design daily Dezeen. The finalists will be announced in August and the winner in September. In the meantime, we’re taking inspiration from the contest’s DIY ideas offered by Dezeen, such as this hexagonal table.
“Around 90 billion cardboard boxes are discarded after a single use every year in the US alone,” Dezeen reports.
Above: Some more Dezeen ideas: a DIY cardboard desk shelf and pinboard.
Above: A smaller version of the desk organizer, sized right for miniature cardboard trees (or a cell phone).
Above: Dezeen’s cardboard bedside table is made from The Sero television packaging.
Above: Our favorite box transformation: The Serif now comes with build-your-own cat house instructions (and the cardboard can be flipped to hide the logo). For an ideal companion piece for your feline, see Claw Control: The DIY Cat Scratching Post.
For more project ideas, browse our DIY Archives, including: