For those of you who work in a professional design office, you know how quickly we become inundated with samples of all sorts. From rubber to glass and everything in-between, we can’t help but find ourselves on the receiving end of sample shipments, momentarily entranced by the possibilities of their novelty.

A recent contest sponsored by carpet manufacturers Bentley Prince Street and Tricycle resulted in some of the best examples of upcycling we’ve seen in a while: from wine carriers to benches, these designers took to the task of finding real, new uses for their excess carpet samples. The winner of the contest was the Rugburm lounge chair, pictured above, designed by a group at RSA. The design incorporates 42 samples and takes advantage of their flexible and weight bearing properties.

According to the website, more than 700,000 carpet samples are shipped to design firms each year. Many manufacturers offer take-back programs where they will pay to ship back any samples that you do not need. And certainly, this is not the first time we’ve seen creative uses of excess carpeting. The best option is a product that can complete its own cycle of regeneration, but when that is not possible, it great to see designers and manufacturers teaming up to find new sustainable solutions.

The finalists were on display at Neocon earlier this month but can still be viewed on the website. Congratulations to all! + Ample Sample

One Response to “AMPLE SAMPLE Upcycling Design Contest”

Naomi says:

July 18, 2007 at 6:03 pm

Very cool. Another way to give these carpets samples new life would be to donate them to schools for various projects. Carpeting a good old fashioned tree house would also be a fun way to make use of these cast off samples, as well. Best thing about this article, though is the further example it gives that there really is no end to what creative minds can/will come up with!