Recycled Mattress Furniture: Madam Rubens Collection

21 by Doug Gunzelmann on January 17, 2009

Living in the city I see discarded mattresses out on the curb every week. They are difficult to recycle, create a large amount of waste, and no one wants to use someone else’s old mattress. Frank Willems has created funky furniture by bending and folding mattress into usable forms.

The project was born after a trip to the dump, in the designers own words:

At a visit to a waste processing facility I learned almost all types of waste appeared to have a destination, except mattresses. They cause trouble because they get stuck between the shredders...For this reason, I started to work with old mattresses.

Frank takes the mattress materials and folds them together, straps them down onto old furniture pieces, and sprays the whole object with a “hygienic, water-resistant foam coating, and finished with a pliable, soft paint.” The end result is a strange and intriguing blend of forms, textures, and mass that give new life to very unwanted material.

via Apartment Therapy and Cool Hunting.

http://www.sleepys.com Mattress

These are crazy! Maybe I’ll try this with my old mattress.
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http://www.beds.sg Bob

I sell mattress in Singapore, we do face a lot of problems with the disposal of old mattress.

It is bulky and some of the branded mattress are really hard to tear apart. I have never in my life though that mattress could be recycled this way.

This is super cool! Well done!!
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http://www.premierfurnitureltd.co.uk/ Sandy

job well done..
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Very interesting I could not figure out what these pieces were until I realized they were old mattress materials! Very good concept and actually pretty stylish design.
Sofia

This is a really neat idea!! I’ve never seen anything like it before. You must have a great imagination!!
http://www.sitefind.org/Shopping/Furniture/ glenda

Very interesting furniture concept.Are they sanitized first? Way to recycle, very cool!
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That is a lot of creativity, thank you for sharing, nice images.
simmons beautyrest
http://www.backtobed.com devin@ Back to Bed – Mattress Stores

I wouldn’t say that no one wants to use old mattresses. On the contrary, I would estimate that we get back 60% of customer’s old mattresses. Nearly all of those are sent to used mattress retailers, then recyclers. So most of what we get back is actually resold.

I would definitely recommend that when you buy a new mattress, DON’T THROW IT AWAY. Arrange for the company to take it back.

It is such a waste. A lot of those used beds are worth $$$ and you’re just adding to the land-fill.
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Very unique. Thank you for keeping our planet GREEN.
http://www.bestmattressreviews.com Zach Smith

With a spark of creativity, you can really do a lot of ingenious things. This is a huge help to our environment considering the years it will take for an average mattress to decompose (which is billions of years, by the way). You can also do pillows and art pieces with mattress materials. But the good news is, there are now eco-friendly mattresses that can be recycled easily and can decompose quickly. The next time you buy a mattress, think about how it is going to affect our nature once you discard it.
http://cid-0c3e351f3f9a697d.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!C3E351F3F9A697D!107.entry Indiana Mattress Store

Interesting… Have you published anything dealing with the memory foam or latex bedding yet?
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Have you over heard anything well worth looking through about the most recent foam/latex mattresses?
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Thanks a lot for the valuable information provided.

mattress cover
small

That red chair would look great in my office. You have so many nice things on your site. I think I will be getting a couple things so far.
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OMG the second one is adorable.! Totally cute. Sadly disposable of old mattresses is a problem everywhere. Thanks for sharing these cute pics, btw.
crazysony

Congratulations for this unique and amazing idea!This is exactly what I need for my Office relocation.This furniture is perfect and my clients would feel comfortable.As a manager I spend a lot of time at the office and it is very important for me to feel comfortable.
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Hey thanks! Really great article, really enjoyed it!
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I agree with you on this, really. Haven’t met too many peopel who think the same way!