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)

玛蒂尔德•维托克设计的现代主义贵妃椅完全没有垫子，只有 500 个精确排列的网球作为衬垫。她一米的长凳也同样没有垫子，只有270个网球，时尚而又结构稳定。

比利时环保设计师维托克用废弃网球定制家具。

她说：“制作一个网球需要24个不同的生产步骤，大约需要五天时间。而网球的使用寿命很短。关注网球是因为我自己也打网球，知道这有多浪费。”

每年大约生产3亿个网球，几乎所有的网球最终都被填埋，需要400多年才能分解。美国网球公开赛每年消耗约7万个网球，温布尔登网球公开赛紧随其后，每年消耗 5.5 万个网球。维托克估计一个网球的生命周期只有九场比赛，随运动员水平不同略有增减。她说：“即使装在盒子里，开封后网球内的气体也会随着时间推移而泄漏。最终它们会变扁，只能扔掉。”

维托克制作一把椅子大约需要三到四周，每件售价为2,900 美元。每个球都是手工切割和染色，并根据客户的空间特点挑选颜色。经过反复试验，她才得以在利用球的形状的同时，掩盖其一些容易识别的特征。她说：“我把它们排列在一起，不让人一眼看出来是网球。”

维托克的所有原材料都来自网球俱乐部的捐赠。一开始收集的数量很少，有时一次只有10个球，但很快就增加了。现在，维托克与布鲁塞尔瓦隆联合会合作，后者向她提供了全部库存 —— 大约10万个网球。这些球能用多久？

她说：“够用几个月，如果产品销售很火的话。也许九个月，因为切割网球很费时。每周可以切1800个。”

但创作并不是唯一的目标。对维托克来说，更重要的是如何销毁她的作品。在这些家具使用寿命结束时，维托克可以将数百个网球拆卸下来回收再利用，因为这些网球之前不用胶水粘，而是编织在一起的。表面的绒毛会被烧掉，橡胶会被切碎，制成弹力十足的操场垫。(Translated by Debra)