Books, books and more obsolete books. A lot of books are destined to be thrown away due to the digital age we live in. Most parts of a book can easily be recycled. But some books or magazines have covers made out of vinyl-esque material and are therefore non-recyclable or difficult to recycle. And with that info a few students started a design project.

Esquire magazine covers used for a seat

Back in 2013 two students at Rochester Institute of Technology [RIT], Adam Capron and David Donath, took part in RIT’s 2013 Upcycle Contest. They submitted an amazing project called ‘Esquire Chair‘. “RIT’s library was faced with a challenge after many of their periodicals were archived digitally. This left them with many obsolete books lying around. The contest encouraged students to create furniture that creatively used the books as the main materials.”

During their research for this project they discovered that the book binding covers are the only part of the book that aren’t recyclable. So they looked for a unique way to use these covers. And they came up with the idea of a suspended chair made by sewing several covers into a single sheet. “We used all red ‘Esquire‘ magazine covers for the seat, hence the piece’s name.”

Photos © Capron & Donath

The Equire Chair is actually made out of more then one upcycled item. Next to the Esquire magazine covers Adam and David used discarded 2″x4″s, scrap electrical conduit and repurposed 550 Parachord.
This upcycle design chair shows a fantastic way of upcycling several discarded items and materials into one incredible and unique piece of furniture. So it must come as no surprise when I tell you they won the contest.
If you like more upcycle design made out of books where the book is still recognizable, you may want to take a look at the following examples: Stacked Books Table Lamp, BOOKHOOK or Booksi.

Design by Adam Capron and David Donath