Mathilde Wittock’s sleek, modernist chaise longues are entirely cushionless — save for the padding of 500 precisely arranged tennis balls. Her one meter-long benches are similarly sparse, with some 270 balls being both stylish and structurally substantial. Wittock, a Belgian eco-designer, fashions bespoke furniture from discarded tennis balls. “It takes around 24 different manufacturing steps to make a tennis ball, which is around five days. Then it has such a short lifespan,” said Wittock. “I was looking into tennis balls because I played tennis myself, so I know there is a lot of waste.” Around 300 million tennis balls are produced each year — and almost all of them end up in landfills, taking over 400 years to decompose. The U.S. Open goes through around 70,000 each year, with Wimbledon not far behind at 55,000. Wittock estimates the lifecycle of a ball stands at just nine games, depending on the level of tennis being played. “Even if they are contained in their box, if the box has been opened the gas inside the tennis balls will be released over time,” she said. “Eventually they will get flat and you’ll have to throw them away.” It takes Wittock around three to four weeks to build a chair, which she sells for US$2,900. Every ball is cut and dyed by hand, with colors picked out especially to fit the client’s space. It was through much trial and error that she was able to harness the shape of the ball while masking some of its all-too-easily recognized features. “I needed to find an assembly that changed the iconic appearance of the tennis balls,” she said. Wittock receives all her materials via donations from tennis clubs. Collections began small — sometimes with just 10 tossed balls at a time — but quickly grew. Now, Wittock works with the Federation of Wallonia in Brussels, who have offered her their entire stock — around 100,000. How long will it last? “It’s enough for a few months,” she said. “If things get wild. Maybe nine months, because I have a rhythm of cutting tennis balls. I can get through 1,800 per week.” But creation isn’t the only goal. In fact, more important to Wittock is how her pieces are destroyed. At the end of her furniture’s life, Wittock can de-assemble the hundreds of tennis balls, which are woven together without glue, to be recycled, where the fuzz is burnt off and the rubber shredded to make bouncy playground mats. (SD-Agencies) 瑪蒂爾德?維托克設計的現代主義貴妃椅完全沒有墊子，只有 500 個精確排列的網球作為襯墊。她一米的長凳也同樣沒有墊子，只有270個網球，時尚而又結構穩定。 比利時環保設計師維托克用廢棄網球定制家具。 她說：“制作一個網球需要24個不同的生產步驟，大約需要五天時間。而網球的使用壽命很短。關注網球是因為我自己也打網球，知道這有多浪費。” 每年大約生產3億個網球，幾乎所有的網球最終都被填埋，需要400多年才能分解。美國網球公開賽每年消耗約7萬個網球，溫布爾登網球公開賽緊隨其后，每年消耗 5.5 萬個網球。維托克估計一個網球的生命周期只有九場比賽，隨運動員水平不同略有增減。她說：“即使裝在盒子里，開封后網球內的氣體也會隨著時間推移而泄漏。最終它們會變扁，只能扔掉。” 維托克制作一把椅子大約需要三到四周，每件售價為2,900 美元。每個球都是手工切割和染色，并根據客戶的空間特點挑選顏色。經過反復試驗，她才得以在利用球的形狀的同時，掩蓋其一些容易識別的特征。她說：“我把它們排列在一起，不讓人一眼看出來是網球。” 維托克的所有原材料都來自網球俱樂部的捐贈。一開始收集的數量很少，有時一次只有10個球，但很快就增加了。現在，維托克與布魯塞爾瓦隆聯合會合作，后者向她提供了全部庫存 —— 大約10萬個網球。這些球能用多久？ 她說：“夠用幾個月，如果產品銷售很火的話。也許九個月，因為切割網球很費時。每周可以切1800個。” 但創作并不是唯一的目標。對維托克來說，更重要的是如何銷毀她的作品。在這些家具使用壽命結束時，維托克可以將數百個網球拆卸下來回收再利用，因為這些網球之前不用膠水粘，而是編織在一起的。表面的絨毛會被燒掉，橡膠會被切碎，制成彈力十足的操場墊。(Translated by Debra) | 