Looking for a cheap and sturdy standing desk? There are DIY options . But if you’ve always wanted to have some cardboard furniture in your home or office (and who hasn’t?), try one of the standing desks from Chairigami.

Entrepreneur and recent Yale graduate Zach Rotholz has attracted plenty of attention for his line of corrugated cardboard furniture. Called Chairigami, the furniture is recyclable, lightweight, flat-packed, and cheaper than conventional designs. It’s popular at big events, which often require large amounts of furniture to be taken in and out quickly (Rothholz recently supplied Chairigami furniture to the Feast, a conference in New York City). But Rotholz has to make all of the furniture by hand, restricting Chairigami’s potential for growth.





Now, with the launch of a Kickstarter campaign for a $65 Chairigami standing desk, Rotholz is partnering with a manufacturer in Massachusetts to scale up production. But in order to make the desk suitable for mass production, Rotholz had to come up a new design. All of his past pieces have been made out of triple-wall cardboard, which is difficult to die cut. The standing desks, in contrast, are made out of single-wall cardboard that has been doubled up in certain places.

“There are a lot more folds and origami skills used in designing it,” he explains. “You can create stronger pieces just by folding. You can double up layers and fold them together in places that need strength, like the top and the legs.”





The 42-inch tall desk weighs 15 pounds, can handle up to 300 pounds of stuff on top of it, and lasts up to four years with heavy use. Made without fasteners or glue–all the pieces can be folded and slotted together–it’s as simple a piece of furniture as you’ll find.

Rotholz believes the desk will be especially attractive to people who want to experiment with standing desks without a huge monetary commitment up front. For everyone else, there’s an element of fun that’s hard to match with traditional desks. “We want people to hack it, customize it, cut a hole for the power cord, color on it, print on it. We want it to be a blank slate for people,” he says.

The Chairigami standing desk is available to pre-order on Kickstarter here.