More than just eco-friendly furniture, the Second Nature project created by Taipei-based designer Chialing Chang takes the concept of recycling manufacturing waste to another level. The furniture range includes a stool and a shelf, both made from leftover wood waste that would have otherwise been discarded. The designer’s goal goes beyond merely creating functional objects that combine green materials and modern design. The project celebrates the potential of the unwanted material and provides an abstract interpretation of the original tree, making the two pieces of furniture special.
Using hand-picked bark and sapwood, Chang put together the objects in a puzzle-like fashion, assembling the long slabs in an arc or in a reinforced grid structure to create the desired effect. From a certain angle, the shelf looks like a tree, while from the side, the stool reveals the shape and organic lines of a trunk’s cross section. Thought-provoking and elegant at the same time, Second Nature explores the potential of waste as building material. But it also gives new life to the discarded pieces of wood by referencing the purity and beauty of the source material through the use of its divided sections. Carefully assembled, they become new objects with a new purpose. Photography by Tzu-Chiao Chiu.