Every single Lexus car is checked by the origami professionals – so-called Takumis – in detail. © Toyota (GB) PLC

From corrugated paperboard to an origami Lexus

LUXURY CAR MADE OF CORRUGATED PAPERBOARD. What do you do with cardboard that is no longer needed? You either take it back to the retailer or you build a vehicle mockup. The Japanese carmakers, Toyota, decided for the latter, turning vast quantities of unused corrugated board into a 1:1 replica of its Luxury IS Saloon as an origami model.

1,700 PIECES OF RECYCLED CORRUGATED PAPERBOARD.

The designers at DS Smith created this artistic Lexus from 1,700 pieces of recycled corrugated paperboard. The interior, body, doors, headlights and even the wheels were laser-cut and then manually glued together. In all, the five designers on the team took just over 12 weeks. An electric engine in an aluminium steel frame ensures that the vehicle can even be moved around.

FIRE- AND WATERPROOF CARDBOARD BIKE.

A few years ago Nimrod Elmish from Israel had the same idea and designed the very first cardboard bike from material costing no more than EUR 12. The bicycle is fire- and waterproof, and the inventor says it is just as easy to assemble as an IKEA shelf.

1,700 pieces of corrugated paperboard were used for the Cardboard Lexus.

Anyone wanting to be on the origami team has to fulfil one fundamental condition: they must be able to create an origami cat with one hand, and in fact with their naturally weaker hand.

Every single Lexus car is checked by the origami professionals – so-called Takumis – in detail.

Let’s think outside the box: The Cardboard Bike. © Cardboard Technologies

“Let’s think outside the box,” said the inventor of the Cardboard Bike to himself, and so he spent several years folding bits of cardboard until he came up with today’s Prototype No. 8 in 2014. Since then the company Cardboard Technologies has also built children’s bicycles and wheelchairs from recycled cardboard. They are sold at a fraction of the price they would cost under conventional manufacturing methods. Moreover, they are environment-friendly. © Cardboard Technologies