Once a Box: Giving Waste a Second Life through Sculpture

In my series Once a Box, I transform used cardboard boxes into sculptures that balance between the monumental and the weightless.

Cardboard is everywhere. It transports our necessities, our desires, and sometimes even our dreams. To me, a cardboard box is never just a cardboard box. It is a material with memory. And sometimes, it gets to become art before it goes to recycling.

I am fascinated by creating something out of a material that exists in abundance and is normally considered waste. Through this process, the used cardboard box is no longer the end of a journey, but the beginning of a new narrative.

Scouting for Stories

My creative process always begins with a hunt. I scour local supermarkets for used cardboard boxes and empty my own paper and cardboard recycling bins. I collect boxes sent from Asia containing everything from kitchen appliances to tiny screws or summer hats. Others come from Canada, packed with leather bags and maple syrup. Some from Italy with olive oil and sandals, or Germany with plants.

Every box carries a different hue and texture. The ones from Asia often have a warmer, yellow-golden tone. The Canadian boxes usually feature a base color rooted in earthy tones. The prints on them are diverse, spanning multiple languages and every color imaginable, punctuated by the practical handle holes meant for carrying them.

Traces of a Global Journey

Best of all, these boxes bear the physical traces of their journeys across continents and countries—by plane, by truck, by ship.

You can find marks left by forklift prongs lifting them up. Scuffs from falling off conveyor belts. Smudges from a courier’s greasy fingers, or stains from weathering the elements.

There are endless stories to tell about the travels of a cardboard box. In Once a Box, those hidden stories finally get to be seen.

Se some of the sculptures at Hals Kunstfestival, in Galleri Virak or in Jerup Galleri.

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