A Second Life for Carpet

Some industries are continuing to make great strides these days to operate under a more sustainable business model. Reclaiming old carpet to be recycled into new flooring is being undertaken by several manufacturers. But for designers and architects, the chronic problem of carpet samples piling up under desks and in corners of their offices is common. In fact, it’s estimated that the flooring industry sends out 700,000 samples a year each measuring 2 feet square on average. Most pile up only to be thrown out later.

Tricycle, Inc. in conjunction with carpet manufacturer Bentley Prince Street and Floor Focus magazine, joined together to sponsor a competition called Ample Sample for designers to transform these samples into new products and give them a second life.

“Samples will always be out there,” says Michael Hendrix, chief brand officer at Tricycle, Inc. “Knowing that they’re not being recycled, we felt it was worth pursuing the idea of making a beautiful design object out of something that would otherwise be thrown away.”

Of course, while the Ample Sample organizers envisioned a competition that would make people rethink their trash, they didn’t think it would involve actual dumpster diving…until, that is, they found themselves pulling the winning entry, the ‘Rugburm’ lounge chair from RSA out of Chicago’s trash.

To publicize the competition, winners were to be displayed on the eighth floor of The Merchandise Mart in Chicago during NeoCon® World’s Trade Fair. However, in an ironic twist, a housekeeping employee at The Merchandise Mart came across the to-be-assembled winning entry during booth set-up hours, and mistook the open box filled with rolled up samples as trash. It wasn’t until several hours later that the Tricycle team was able to track down the box—now residing in a city dump. Saved from a landfill yet again, the samples were sent back to The Mart and, aside from a small grease stain or two, were only slightly worse for the wear.

All the finalists can be viewed here. You can also download a pdf instruction book for each to make them for yourself. The competition is set to run again next year.