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Chair, Corrugated Cardboard Chair, 1969
Alois Rasser
Chair, Corrugated Cardboard Chair,
Alois Rasser,
*2027

Chair, Corrugated Cardboard Chair,
1969

Alois Rasser
*2027
g
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BF
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1
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Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Ausstellungsstrasse 60
8031 Zurich
Museum map
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 94
8031 Zurich
Pavillon Le Corbusier
Höschgasse 8
8008 Zürich
Museum map
  • Corrugated Cardboard Chair Alois Rasser Chair
  • Corrugated Cardboard Chair Alois Rasser Chair
  • Corrugated Cardboard Chair Alois Rasser Chair
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1988-0179_EN.mp3
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The first cardboard furniture appeared on the market in the 1960s. Most of the designs were informed by the ease of folding the inexpensive, lightweight material. Alois Rasser (b. 1948) opted to create forms directly from commercially available corrugated cardboard rolls. This allowed him to produce ergonomic seating easily with a band saw.

In 1969, Willy Guhl’s interior design class at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich organized a student competition to make cardboard furniture for the café and cinema at the Kunstgewerbemuseum Zürich during the Magie des Papiers (Magic of Paper) exhibition. Unlike the other entrants, Alois Rasser did not try to stabilize the material by folding it, but instead drew inspiration from the rolls of corrugated cardboard delivered. He produced comfortable stools with seat pans by striking the inner section of the cylindrical cardboard roll on one side to press it down, then cutting off the material that had been pushed outward on the other side. Rasser applied the same principle to find the optimal cut for armchairs. Using a band saw to cut a corrugated cardboard roll in half along a shallow S-curve, he was able to create two armchairs at once. The final touch involved shaping the seat pans manually and removing the resulting protrusion on the lower side. (Renate Menzi)

Wellkartonstuhl, 1969
Entwurf: Alois Rasser
Herstellung: Alois Rasser (Dozent: Franz Zeier)
Material/Technik: Wellkarton, gerollt
75 × 64 × 64 cm
Donation: Alf und Monika Aebersold
Eigentum: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK
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Literature

Mark Buchmann (Hg.), Magie des Papiers. Wegleitung Nr. 277 des Kunstgewerbemuseums der Stadt Zürich, Zürich 1969.

«Papiermöbel und Kinderspielsachen aus Pappe», in: Werk, 57 (1970), Heft 5, S. 320–324.

Image credits

Wellkartonstuhl, 1969, Entwurf: Alois Rasser, Donation: Alf und Monika Aebersold
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Alois Rasser in seinem Kartonstuhl, Dokumentation der Ausstellung Magie des Papiers im Kunstgewerbemuseum Zürich, 1969, Entwurf: Alois Rasser
Abbildung: Archiv ZHdK

Ansicht der Ausstellung Magie des Papiers im Kunstgewerbemuseum Zürich, 1969
Abbildung: Archiv ZHdK

Alois Rasser formt die Sitzmulde ein, 1969
Abbildung: Archiv ZHdK