It is not often you witness a life-sized cardboard car, but it seems today must be an exception. Grand Designs Live in Birmingham celebrated its 10th anniversary and to mark the special occasion Design guru Kevin McCloud unveiled a life-sized replica of the Lexus IS saloon made from 1,700 recyclable laser-cut cardboard sheets.
The design, commissioned by Lexus is a celebration of the craftsmanship skills of the takumi â the men and women who work on the companyâs production lines in Japan.
The Origami Car has a fully fitted interior, functioning doors, headlights and rolling wheels. The model was also fitted with an electric motor mounted on its steel and aluminium frame, so it can even be driven.
The car was created by a team of five designers and modellers from Laser Cut Works and Scales and Models, supported by DS Smith and NVDK.
Lexus first provided the designers with a digital 3D model prototype. The parts were then digitally rendered in 10mm slices to provide the 2D profiles needed for the laser cutting of each of the 1,700 sheets of 10mm-thick of cardboard. Each layer was given its own reference to ensure it was assembled in the right sequence and the entire assembly was put together by hand using a water and wood-based glue.
Ruben Marcos, Scales and Models Company Founder and Director explained, âIn effect we created our own vehicle production line. There was a lot of repetition in the process and we had to work with military precision, just like the teams that make the real Lexus cars.â