Upcycling Paper Towel Cardboard Tubes

As a warm up assignment we are recycling low value waste into aesthetic pleasing objects. Deciding what to do isn’t always easy however for me this time around it was simpler than in the past. Over the winter break I read “Creative Confidence” by David and Tom Kelley ( I highly recommend it to anyone looking to do any kind of design), a book aimed at unleashing creativity among all types of persons. I enjoyed the book and really gave me confidence to move forward with designs. One of the ideas in the book that got my attention was to quit the decisions and start making whatever was the last idea you had and iterate to make it better.

I decided to use paper towel tubes because I had two in hand hence I just needed a few more.

I decided cutting the tubes into 1 cm thick rings would be ideal so that I could be repetitive.

Cut Paper Towel Cardboard Tubes

Doodling during class I got the idea to build a pyramid like structure and bend the tubes into triangles. My idea so far looks like this, although I would not be surprised if it changes.

In this drawing I intended to do a 4 sided pyramid with the top cut off. I also attempted to do this in a two point perspective. I hope the final product is expressionist giving a feeling of vibrant light and well being.

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3 Comments. Leave new

  • This is a great idea, I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I really like that you’re using toilet paper rolls because of how abundant they are and how many of them get thrown away. What I really like about this is that its very original and you can take it anywhere with your creativity. Maybe you could even include some other sort of material to give it a little bit more depth and contrast. Also, I found it pretty clever that you decided to break up each paper all into smaller pieces that you can manipulate better to your desire. Great work!

    Reply
  • Yousef Alqattan
    February 3, 2019 7:53 pm

    Hi Andres, I love how you turned your decision for this project into a short entertaining story. Turning recycled items into art is a very popular thing now and I like how you’ve chosen yours so creatively! The one thing I would have liked to know is if you are trying to send a message by creating this piece or is it for the eyes’ pleasure only?

    Reply
  • Abdulaziz Alrashed
    February 3, 2019 3:00 pm

    I like how you explained where you got your inspiration from. I do have some concerns. If you are going to use glue to hold each triangle to another, you might want to consider adding some sort of support on each edge. is the inside of the pyramid going to be hallow? if so, you could put something that could give it a functionality such as a lamp.

    Reply

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