Announcing the Elia Mini Chair -- Easy to make, cool to decorate and fun to sit on!

Have fun creating your very own functional cardboard Elia mini chair that is easy to assemble and fun to customize with your own art. This kit includes one ready to build mini chair, an easy to follow instruction sheet, 6 decorative sticker sheets and endless decorating possibilities that will set your artistic imagination to work. This great reversible piece of modern furniture (this means you have two opportunities to create!) is an all around feel good project for families. Your chair is 100% recyclable once you've put it to good use, and 5% of the profits from the sale of Elia chair will go to charities that benefit children and the environment. Ages 4 and Up to 200 lbs.

This chair was designed by Michael Gross, Canadian architect/engineer. Here's what he replied to the question from the Walker Art Center, "What do you want families to get from their Elia Chair?" "The fact that cardboard is ubiquitous in consumer culture and is the most recycled of all consumer products makes it a great vehicle for helping kids understand issues about sustainability and the environment. I think corrugated cardboard is a really brilliant invention. It was developed as a less expensive and lighter alternative to wood and plywood as a packaging material at the end of the 19th century. It has enormous structural strength given its light weight and this, of course, is a result of the way it is made - layers of fluted liner (paper) sandwiched between flat liner. The flutes are like roman arches in that that they resist compression and transfer load efficiently. Cardboard also behaves like a structural column when it is edge-loaded. So the Elia Mini Chair is also a great way to teach young kids about basic engineering and geometric principles like the arch, the triangle, compression, tension, beams and columns. And hopefully children will come away with an understanding that good design is a marriage of art and engineering." Perfect for birthday parties, rainy days, after school activities, educational institutions, arts and crafts times, art center events, fundraising activities, summer camps or parent/child creative bonding opportunities.