molo Turns Paper into Walls with Custom Blue Sheets from Gmund

Roughly 75 percent of the electricity making molo's newest architectural paper comes from Gmund Paper's own hydroelectric turbines on the Mangfall River in Germany. That figure anchors a collaboration between the Vancouver design studio molo and the Bavarian papermaker, presented at the 2026 International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York, which pushes paper from stationery into structural territory.

Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen, molo's cofounders, have spent years testing what happens when a material stops being defined by its conventional uses. Both trained in architecture and experienced with traditional building materials, they found what they describe as a sculptural purity, freedom, and surprising strength in a humble sheet. Their soft collection — space dividers, building blocks, furniture, and lighting made from paper or textile — treats these pieces not as isolated objects but as tools for transforming entire interiors. A panel can open, fold, extend, or reconfigure to create different degrees of privacy.

What does this change for architecture?

The core proposition is that buildings don't have to rely exclusively on permanent elements. Geometry does the heavy lifting: paper gains strength through folds, cellular structures, and internal cavities, producing a lightweight system that stands and extends through space. What looks fragile becomes a design quality. These boundaries don't behave like conventional walls; they act as surfaces that interact with light, sound, and movement.

The collaboration's flagship piece, the sloped softwall, makes the argument in three dimensions. One side keeps vertical folds that emphasize structure. The other is cut diagonally to expose the internal cells, creating a surface that alters a room's perceived dimensions and can define circulation paths that expand visually upward.

The material specs

The first papers developed for the collection come in two tones: deep blue and glacier blue. Gmund produced them to meet stringent technical requirements:

• Custom-made, long-fiber papers that are fire-retardant
• Free of harmful components and lightfast
• Resistant to ink migration
• Fully recyclable, with FSC® certification and sustainable sourcing

The blue papers run on a machine with more than 140 years of history, updated with lasers, robotics, and advanced water treatment. Gmund treats its wastewater locally until it reaches drinking-water quality, and solid waste from this production line goes to no landfills. The remaining 25 percent of the mill's power comes from certified regional plants.

The choice of manufacturer is itself a statement: innovation doesn't always mean replacing what exists. It can mean updating and extending the life of systems embedded in an established manufacturing tradition.

Color as spatial performance

The two tones do distinct optical work. Deep blue creates an intense interplay between light absorption and reflection, evoking the shifting surface of the ocean and the hues of twilight. Glacier blue is lighter and more translucent; under direct sunlight, the fibers take on an almost ethereal appearance, transmitting light rather than reflecting it.

In both cases, color operates as more than surface treatment — it becomes part of the material's spatial performance. Light, shadow, texture, transparency, and geometry combine to build atmospheres that shift with the viewer's position and changing conditions.

The ICFF presentation frames the larger wager. Paper can be strong without losing its lightness, structural without appearing heavy, and technically sophisticated without giving up its poetic dimension. If a sheet of paper can become a wall, a piece of furniture, or a structure that organizes an interior, the molo–Gmund work suggests architects have been underestimating the material all along.