Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Cardboard World Domination



Have you heard? The Global Cardboard Challenge is on October 6th! In more than two hundred events in over 30 countries all around the world, people are celebrating the wonder of cardboard. 

Apparently, it all began with one young visonary:


Bravo, Caine! But also bravo to all the less famous cardboard devotees who've faithfully adored cardboard before there was even youtube, wikipedia or Instructables! And to the huge spectrum of folks who do everything from crafting entire offices out of cardboard to throwing a bunch of lego figures into an amazon shipping box and calling it a dollhouse. I'd shout soul-stirring stuff like, "Behold your legacy!" and "Onward for the glory of corrugation!" but really I'm just rolling my eyes and saying, "Well, duh! It's about time."

What am I doing on the 6th of October? I'm not sure yet. Could be making hoodies. Could be filling boo bags. Could be cooking dinner. Could be cardboarding. Could be planning parties. Could be designing halloween costumes. Point is: I don't need a special day to worship my favorite crafting material; I'm already a believer for life and my house- in particular, the guest bedroom and its attached walk-in closet- is a shrine. But I am excited to see what the rest of the world does with it. A long time ago, I shared my secret ambition for cardboard world domination. Didn't really care who did the dominating, of course, as long as the entire planet fell under the spell. Perhaps this is the beginning of that new era. Today, Earth; tomorrow, the Solar System; next week, infinity and beyond. Do I hear an amen?





8 comments:

  1. Wow, I wish I knew about this earlier! There are no events in The Netherlands, such a shame. Maybe I should start one myself next year...
    I still have loads of ideas for crafting with cardboard. Must go and make them and blog about it :-)

    Petra X

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  2. Thanks for letting us know about that project. I just told my kids to turn off My Little Pony, and to create something with a box we got yesterday. They're excited!

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  3. Have you ever seen this before? I've been reading your blog a while now and as soon as I saw it I thought of you, as you post such amazing cardboard creations! A working cardboard bike :) http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670753/this-9-cardboard-bike-can-support-riders-up-to-485lbs

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  4. Thought you might be interested in this. A 100 year old iconic Anglican cathedral was very damaged in Christchurch, New Zealand by an earthquake last year. They are building a temporary (20-50yrs) replacement out of cardboard while they figure out what they should do with the original. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/9206091/Work-due-to-begin-on-cardboard-cathedral-in-New-Zealand.html

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  5. I'm so suprised that there was so much interest/novelty factor in kids actually making stuff from cardboard boxes! Don't all kids do that?
    I suppose that in Australia where I live, there are two generations of pre-school aged kids who have watched a long running tv show, Play School, in which most of the props and craft are made from cardboard and sticky tape or household objects. My dream job is to actually design and make the props on that show ; )
    Then when they get to school kids have 'Box Work' in which they make random things out of old cardboard boxes and plastic bottle tops. Loved Box Work as a kid!

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    1. Oh Pip - Australia has got its education system right! I don't know if all kids do cardboard work but they should. More than Legos, even.

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