Global design brand Arper is proud to announce its collaboration with Swedish startup PaperShell. Together, the pair unveiled an industry-disrupting new product: the Catifa Carta.
A reinterpretation of Arper’s original iconic design, the Catifa 53, the Catifa Carta represents a new era of sustainable design practices. Its seat is crafted from PaperShell’s revolutionary, name-sake material, which ingeniously transforms discarded offcuts of deceased trees into durable craft paper, harnessing the carbon dioxide the tree retained throughout its life, contributing to a more environmentally conscious production cycle.
To create the Catifa Carta, 29 sheets of this eco-friendly paper are meticulously pressed into a mold with steam and bio-resin, a natural alternative to adhesives. Once shaped, the chair is carefully trimmed of the excess material before being sent to its new home.
What truly sets the Catifa Carta apart is its end-of-life sustainability. When its lifecycle concludes, the chair can be returned to Arper to be turned into biochar. This process effectively locks in all the carbon dioxide the tree absorbed, rendering the Catifa Carta carbon-negative. The resulting biochar is then used to grow mycelium, which fertilizes and rejuvenates the soil from which it came, completing a full circle of ecological responsibility.
Arper’s long-standing commitment to sustainability shines through in this partnership and sets a new standard for sustainable design. As the first home design brand to partner with Papershell, Arper is leading the charge in embracing groundbreaking materials and technologies.
Catifa Carta is just the beginning of Arper’s commitment to finding more sustainable ways in which to produce product and anticipate needs for each product’s end of life cycle.
