Paper Furniture Environmental Trends Drive Interest in 'Green' Furniture

In view of today's emphasis on environmental protection, manufacturers around the world have tried hard to source environmentally friendly raw materials to develop "green" products that can be recycled or reused. Some furniture manufacturers in Taiwan are quite interested in the fabrication of green furniture, which is mainly made from specially processed paper or fiber materials, and in recent years these makers have attracted increasing attention in the market both at home and abroad.

Acerly International Co. has been a professional maker of paper cartons and boxes for more than three decades, and in 1992 became involved in manufacturing paper furniture, which the company creates in the style of flexibly mixed "Lego" cubes that can be combined in various designs depending on the needs of customers.

"We create mostly do-it-yourself (DIY) knockdown (KD) paper furniture and related products. Currently, our DIY design boasts 32 kinds of furniture components that can be put together in several hundred thousand combinations, " explains Chen Ping-sung, general manager of the company. "What make the difference in this kind of furniture are the rivets we use, which we developed and patented in Taiwan, mainland China, and Japan."

Silver Medal Award

"Our Lego cube mixed furniture won a silver medal at the international invention contest held in Nuremberg, Germany in 2002. This kind of furniture is believed to be the first of its kind in the world, " Chen says proudly. "We provide up to 16 series of creative multifunctional K/D racks, chests and cabinets, which are constructed with 32 kinds of K/D components."

Fabricated with poles with lengths of 12, 18, 30, 36, 45, 60, 75, and 90 cm, plus various sizes of shelving and panels, Acerly's K/D furniture products are a good alternative to those using traditional materials such as wood, metal, and glass. "Via components of different sizes, users can create racks and cabinets in numerous designs and combinations, " Chen adds.

Among the company's 16 K/D series are entertainment racks, bookcases, children's furniture, closets, end tables and coffee tables, bathroom cabinets, dining room cabinets, flower racks, shoe racks, magazine racks, partition cabinets, wall-mounted cabinets, corner cabinets, and storage cabinets.

"People usually like to stay where they are as long as things go smoothly. Most domestic paper carton makers did not bother to diversify their production lines about 10 years ago when they still witnessed good business results, " Chen states. "However, beginning about a decade ago, the domestic market for paper cartons started to decline obviously, and more and more manufacturers moved their operations overseas. The exodus of domestic enterprises has caused a sharp drop in demand for cartons, and therefore carton makers had to either close lines or diversify them."

Unwilling to end operations, Chen decided to follow world trends to develop environmentally friendly paper furniture to revitalize his carton business. "Other than furniture, paper can make a wide variety of products, namely toys, lamps, and gift and stationery items. As global sentiment for environmental protection rises, the future of the paper product industry is looking more promising, " Chen affirms.

Although there seems to be a rosy future ahead, some disadvantages of paper furniture still need to be solved. "Compared to traditional furniture made of wood, metal, plastic, and/or glass, paper furniture items are relatively less solid in structure and more easily suffer from humidity, " Chen points out. "So, to solve these problems, we are planning to combine paper with other materials, such as cloth, PVC, and other laminates to reinforce the furniture."

To rapidly tap the market of the younger generation, Acerly plans to sell its paper furniture via the Internet, and is now developing a sophisticated software system enabling potential buyers to order products online, offering everything from choice of designs and patterns to price estimates. "With computer design, we can make almost any kind of paper furniture to meet the individual needs of consumers, and the design can be easily changed as long as necessary, " Chen emphasizes. "We welcome interested young people to participate in Acerly through our online franchisees in order to jointly explore the market for the company's innovative paper furniture."

Fully Recyclable Items

Established in December of 2004, Hello Paper is a young and dynamic company in the paper furniture industry. The company is actually a joint venture of Orna Paper, a Malaysian paper manufacturer, and Trlcam Co., a Taiwanese paper packing company. Involved in manufacturing corrugated and kraft paper cartons for more than 14 years, Trlcam has in recent years diversified its operations to other paper products.

"I took a trip to Malaysia early in 2004 and unexpectedly met the owner of Orna Paper there. We had a nice talk and found that we had many concepts about environmental protection in common. So, we decided to jointly set up a company named 'Hello Paper' to develop green furniture products, " states Tony Hsu, vice president of Trlcam and also marketing superintendent and chief project creator of Hello Paper.

"Green furniture" is not only environmentally friendly, but also does not harm users. "We carefully screen the materials we use for manufacturing furniture products, and discard those that contain any ingredients that are unhealthy to users, " Hsu says. "The quality of our paper furniture products is well controlled. The products are ergonomically designed and can be reused and recycled to help save the resources of the earth as well."

Generally speaking, paper furniture has recently gained more and more attention in the international market, and is now available in the form of paper beds, paper chairs, paper cabinets, and paper desks. Most paper furniture products can be combined to meet the needs of customers and are specially treated to be insect-proof, mold-proof, and humidity-proof. "Massive amounts of chemicals are normally applied to traditional wooden furniture, including formaldehyde, ketone, and ester, for surface treatment. And the chemicals used are more or less harmful to the health of users, " Hsu indicates.

People care more about health and nature today, and many environmental-protection-oriented consumers find it a good choice to buy paper furniture products for their living places. " Hello Paper's paper items can be 100% reused or recycled, and are produced in large volumes at reasonable prices. Most of the products are available as DIY items, " Hsu adds. Today Hello Paper offers a wide variety of paper furniture items, including tea tables, office tables, study tables, book shelves, shoe racks, sofa chairs, cushion office chairs, modular shelves, corrugated paper bins, chests, storage boxes, CD boxes, and other items such as toys and stationery items.

"So far the market for paper furniture has not fully matured, because most consumers still take a wait-and-see attitude toward such products; nevertheless, we feel quite optimistic about the future of the industry. The company will keep developing more new items, for instance, baby cradles, pet houses, and medical facilities that people are inclined to dispose of after use, " Hsu remarks.

Paper-woven Chests

Donido Enterprise Co. began its 10-year history running a plastic injection plant producing molds for household storage items. In 1997, the company started to feel strong competition from its counterparts in mainland China and S. Korea, which offered lower prices in the international market for plastic products.

However, in 1999 Donido became involved in manufacturing paper furniture products when it began to import high-end paper from Storaenso Co., a leading paper manufacturing company in Sweden. "The world's rising sentiment in favor of environmental protection has encouraged us to get involved in the green furniture industry, " Cheng Kun-lung, president of the company, notes. "We mainly produce rattan-like paper-woven chests and storage boxes."

In addition to importing paper from Sweden, the company also imports water-based paints from Japan as coating material for its paper furniture. The special paint causes no pollution when drained into sewerage system because it contains no chemicals and heavy metals, Cheng explains.

To enhance the quality of its products, Donido has recently funneled a sizable capital investment into purchasing advanced machines to upgrade its facilities. In addition, the company frequently sends its managers and designers to attend international furniture shows around the world to learn about the trends in the industry. Other than furniture products, the company also turns out paper lampshades and lamp bases.

Today Donido's products are 100% exported, mainly to Japan, which accounts for 60% of the company's total exports. Of the remaining 40%, Europe takes 20% and the U.S. and Canada 10% each. To cater to the taste of Japanese consumers, the company has contracted a Japanese designer to help it develop products that meet market demand in Japan.

Compared to ordinary paper furniture products, Donido's high-end rattan-like paper-woven items seem more expensive due to its sophisticated manufacturing processes. "We are going to vertically and horizontally integrate the manufacturing processes to streamline operations and lower manufacturing cost as well, " Cheng says firmly.