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How can we recycle materials to create functional and innovative pieces of furniture? The creative students of the Kolding School of Design ^[6] and Aarhus School of Architecture ^[7] are taking on the challenge, certainly proving that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. On show at the Think Twice ^[8] exhibition at this year's Copenhagen Design Week ^[9], check out the designs that these young creatives are proposing to remedy the issue of growing, excess waste.

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Malene Lund Rasmussen created this funky seat made from knitted plastic bags ^[10]. The material add some color to an old, classic chair while saving some bags from polluting our landfills.

Anna Karnov Pedersen ^[11]‘s Ace of Spades lamp turns a disused deck of playing cards into a stunning lighting solution.

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Made by Katsuhiro Kanzaki, Mushroom is a biodegradable and fully recyclable stool made from scrap cardboard tubes ^[12], paper and cotton strings.

By ironing shopping bags ^[13] into a colorful sheet, Christina Amelie Jensen created 85 Plastic Bags – a lounge chair for enjoying eco-friendly days and sun bathing at the nearest beach.

2nd Chandelier by Christian Baastrup is a sleek and modern hanging luminaire made from metal components recycled from an old office ^[14] chair.

By using sink cutouts from the production of kitchen countertops, Jeppe S Vestergaard created this handy recycled wooden ^[15] stool called Jolly J, that comes completed with a handle.

The total annual of wasted food ^[16] in Denmark is estimated at 540,000 tons. With this in mind, Laerke Zesach Krabbe ^[17] created Thrown Out, a tasty and surprisingly strong chair made by upholstered sliced bread baguettes that were left to dry and reinforced with water glass.

Screw’up by students Matilde Nyeland Jorgensen Og and Marie Munk Hartwig is a user-friendly storage system of screwed to the wall glass jars ^[18], meant for keeping small objects .

Every year 200,000 bicycles go to waste in Denmark, so student Marianne Kasten decided to do something about it by recycling bike ^[19] inner tubes and wheels into this fantastic woven light.

Jeppe S Vestergaard –the same designer as the Jolly J stool– used FSC ^[20] sink cut outs from the production of kitchen countertops for his Hexahedron piece – a flat pack, modular shelving made of waste.

Colorful Tube Chair by Canna Worsoe shows how attached recycled cardboard tubes ^[21] can be strong and comfortable if used vertically.

By recycling ^[22] various furniture pieces and her own grandma’s chest of drawers, student Helle Schou Pedersen created Granny’s Top Drawer.

Royal Night by Mia Kragh is a big colorful lamp made from recycled and recyclable aluminum ^[23] cans and wooden tripod legs that support the shade.

Locally sourced scrap wood boards from ships and sheds in Denmark ^[24] come together to create this patchwork seat called DOK5611. The piece is designed by Anne Sophie Schlutter-Hvelplund and Kerstin Kongsted ^[25].

Roll and Repeat is a DIY ^[26] round stool by Line Marie Sorensen made from rolls of junk mail and leaflets, giving a new life to that unwanted paper inside our letterboxes.

And last but not least, here are the three winners from the Think Twice students’ competition ^[27]; the lucky winners of a designer chair from renowned Danish company HAY ^[28]:

Emil Lagoni Valbak, from Aarhus School of Architecture created Plunge, an Eames ^[29] referenced armchair made from an old TV reclaimed from at Roskilde Festival, suspended on four plungers.

Also coming out from Aarhus School of Architecture is Left Hanging by Anne Kruse Rasmussen, a table built with scrap wood rescued from a demolished building ^[30] that playfully defies gravity.

Martin D. Christensen, a student from Aarhus School of Architecture, was also a winner with his ‘Bulb’ chandelier – an ode to the fading incandescent light bulb ^[31]. This piece is made from 48 burnt-out lights.

By simply thinking twice, Danish students were able to demonstrate how taking a DIY, fresh and lateral-thinking approach can tackle complicated problems through simple solutions.

+ Think Twice ^[8]

+ Copenhagen Design week 2011 ^[9]

+ Kolding School of Design ^[6]

+ Aarhus School of Architecture ^[7]

Photo © Ana Lisa Alperovich for Inhabitat