NewspaperWood

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The development of NewspaperWood (then called KrantHout) began in 2003 as the result of a research project by Design Academy Eindhoven alumnus Mieke Meijer. After a collaboration with Vij5 in 2007 and a joint presentation of the material in 2011, the material underwent a long development process. We are proud to be one of the founders of NewspaperWood bv and still use the material for various products in the Vij5 collection.

How it all began

Every day, stacks of newspapers are thrown away and recycled into new paper. During her studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven, Mieke Meijer came up with a way to use this surplus of paper in a different way and turn it into an innovative material: NewspaperWood.

"NewspaperWood allows newsprint made from wood to revert to wood. The NewspaperWood has surprisingly similar properties to those of (solid) wood. When the NewspaperWood is sawn, the different layers of the paper come to the surface. From a distance this looks strikingly like wood grains or annual rings of a tree, but if you look closer you can even discover a letter here and there."

The paths of Mieke and Vij5 (Arjan van Raadshooven & Anieke Branderhorst) first crossed in 2007. When seeing the NewspaperWood in Mieke's portfolio, a collaboration was quickly born. Mieke and Vij5 pre-
sented the product together for the first time during the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven in 2008. After that, Mieke and Vij5 continued the development of the material and the associated production process.

First NewspaperWood collection

For the launch of the first product collection and the international presentation of the material, Mieke and Vij5 asked a group of talented Dutch Designers to experiment with NewspaperWood within the Vij5 collection.

The main goal was to create an open attitude and explore the possibilities that this New material had to offer. We wanted to embrace the experiment and create an open character for the project as a whole to keep future opportunities open and within reach.

This diverse collection was successfully presented in Milan in April 2011. Since then, the NewspaperWood material has been presented at various exhibitions and trade fairs at home and abroad.

Upcycling

NewspaperWood does not aim to become a large-scale alternative to wood or to recycle all paper waste into a new material. The main theme of the project is 'upcycling'; we show how a material surplus can be applied in something more valuable by using it within a different context.

Despite the fact that current printing techniques at the newspaper are so efficient that test prints and first unusable copies are kept to a minimum, there is still sufficient basic material available for us. In addition, we use the 'yesterday's newspaper' that has not been distributed and is already old news today... all this gives us a perfect and local source of basic material!

To 'upcycle' the newspaper into NewspaperWood, we (temporarily) remove it from the existing paper recycling cycle. Our aim is to be able to return our own residual material back into the cycle. That is why we use an adhesive without solvents and plasticizers that would make recycling more difficult. As a result, it is not only possible to return our own sawing and sanding waste to the cycle, but, so to speak, the actual products can also be disposed of with the waste paper, although we naturally hope that they will be cherished for a long time...

NewspaperWood BV

Due to the growing success of NewspaperWood, it has now become a separate organization called NewspaperWood Holding BV. This company is committed to the production and development of the NewspaperWood material in order to investigate new semi-finished products, products and innovative Applications.

For more information, please visit our Website: www.newspaperwood.com