katamaku: a series of carrying cases made from stadium and tent roofing | click images to enlarge
As we all know, the roofing material that covers massive stadiums has to be strong, durable and weatherproof. The plastic-like material is first extruded into a thin film. But when it’s cut into gigantic shapes that cover stadiums there’s a lot of excess material that gets thrown out. And as it turns out, explains Japanese design firm k2m, the material is permeable enough that it can be used for smaller things as well.
when the large rolls of material are cut into stadium sizes there’s plenty of excess that gets thrown away. The designers decided to utilize this waste to create katamaku
Seeing an opportunity in the waste created during the process of creating stadium roofing, k2m, a design frim established by two architects and a management consultant, founded katamaku (kata means fragment and maku refers to the roofing membrane).
“the products are made from a single sheet of membrane that can – like a kimono – be folded to protect things that are to be carried.”
By incorporating an elegant origami-style production, the architects have designed a series of carrying cases – business card holders, pencil cases, document folders – using a single sheet of folded roofing material. And while these types of everyday accessories aren’t subjected to the harsh conditions of stadium roofing, ” ‘katamaku’ will make people realize the beauty in materials that are not usually seen up close,” says the founders.
