With this project I am wanting to explore the way furniture 'fits'. This can be either with a body or space. Through my research I will discover which. I first got this idea from how puzzle pieces fit together.
To have the same theory as this in furniture, my pieces will each have to be customised to each user as every body is shaped differently. For this to be practical I will explore into places in peoples lives that they would have their own specific furniture they use, for example family's having their own specific seat at a table.
personal ergonomics:
insoles
dinner table seats
office chairs
sofa seats
school classroom seating plan
bed / pillows
desire paths
If I was to make my final outcome less personal so that my pieces could be used by anyone, I would need to incorporate some sort of kinetic mechanism into my designs, to make it fit to anybody that's placed on it.
This could be achieved using:
lamination
Kerfing
foam
Lamination - Wood lamination is the process of bonding together thin layers of wood veneer to create a stronger and more stable material. This process will often be used to create curved and free formed edges that will hold their shape when formed.
Kerfing - Kerfing involves making evenly spaced cuts or groves in a piece of wood to enable it to bend more easily, often used in the creation of curved or flexible wooden components.
ergonomics
When furniture is designed to fit comfortably against somebody's body it is often referred to as "ergonomic". Ergonomically designed furniture aims to provide proper support and alignment for the body, reducing discomfort and the risk of injury. This can include features such as well contoured seating, adjustable components and proper sizing to accommodate different body types and their postures.
The Body - Kirsi Enkovaara
Finnish designer, Kirsi Enkovaara, created this flexible seating structure that can be twisted and contorted into many different forms in order to support the body in comfortable and new positions.
Enkovaara designed this to encourage people to reevaluate how they sit. "From early on we learn what is the right way for sitting in our own culture and have seats that encourage these ways of sitting, but often we can find ourselves sitting in very odd positions in standardised seats".
"This seat provides an opportunity and encouragement to let a person dictate the way of sitting. It encourages awareness how a person and an individual body likes to sit and provides a platform for interaction and research into individual ways of sitting".
This light pink, 6 meter long, strip of canvas with seams stitched along its length is filled with grains of rice to help the structure hold its shape once in the desired position. The friction of the rice granules inside the tubes produces a ridged form with enough free movement to shape itself around the user's body.
After experimenting with other granular materials, including various sizes of plastic pellets, Enkovaara settled on rice because of its ability to maintain a solid structure and sustainability. "Throughout history it has been used in Japan in pillows offering a more ecological and economical option to foam".
While moving this piece to create a form, folding adds hight to create surfaces for use as backrests or sitting, while twisted forms provide enclosed spaces to burrow into. Stretching the shape out to form flat surfaces allows it to be used like a lounge chair, while rolling it up offers for more conventional seating.
The user is able to adapt the simple structure to their own body shape and enjoy finding the most comfortable configurations. "I find the beauty of this product being when the simple form turns into various complicated configurations as a results of human interaction".
After discovering this piece 'The Body', I have realised that rice is a good substitution for foam as it moves with the body. However, the only issue with rice is that it won't spring back like foam. I would like to avoid using foam in my project because of its sustainability issues. The use of human intuition to make your own seat is something that I would like to see with my final piece as it adds a personal touch to each users experience.
SurfBench - Kim André Lange
The SurfBench has reinvented sitting to become entertaining. The SurfBench sparks curiosity and exploration of the spaces we inhabit by being designed to help time pass through playful interaction while sitting.
No engines or electricity is needed, the bench is completely powered by kinetic energy provided by human interaction. To extend the products lifespan all components have been designed to be replaceable.
The SurfBench converts the kinetic energy introduced by an individual sitting down / interacting with it into a smooth wave movement.
The kinetic movement that is provided by a person interacting with this piece is something that I would like to see in my final outcome. This kinetic movement will allow people of any shape and size to sit down and be surrounded by the piece, making it inclusive to everyone.
Float Table - RockPaperRobot
The Float Table is a collection of magnetised wooden cubes that levitate equally between one another. All cubes are simultaneously pushing away from each other but being held together through a system of steel cables.
At first glance this table seems rigid and stable, yet when external force is applied the table elastically deforms. Magnets and stainless steel cables are the core to the Float table.
The use of magnets to help the table kinetically move is interesting to me. This would be a good replacement to foam, as it springs back unlike rice in the previous piece 'The Body'. This will be something that I will try to implement into my final design.
Living Nature - Caroline Bryan
While visiting the New Designers exhibition in London I came across this small stool that caught my eye. At first appearance this stool doesn't look very comfortable as you would be sitting on many wooden poles. However, inside the log is a layer of foam, causing the poles to move with your body weight. This means that the poles adjust to the body making it fit perfectly to whoever sits on it. This is an idea that I would like to have in my final outcome as it makes it inclusive. The use of foam hidden in the inside would help me have moving components without overcomplicating the design. It would also leave the aesthetic of my final piece looking more natural with the wood on show while hiding any foam components on the inside.
Kinetic
All of these pieces have moving elements in common, they distort in shape to fit the users preference of seating. From this I'm going to explore the use of kinetic movements and ways in which I can incorporate this into my final piece. Instead of looking how furniture fits to people I will now explore how furniture fits in spaces.
A big reason for kinetic furniture nowadays is restricted living spaces as people don't have enough space for big dining tables and chairs. Therefore, the use of furniture that either compacts away small, can easily be moved to the side or is multifunctional is essential for people to be able to fully furnish their living space. Flats are a key hotspot for kinetic / multifunctional furniture as they are smaller than houses and normally have lots of stairs and lifts, making it hard to move large furniture pieces into them.
The most common type of kinetic movement in products that aren't furniture is extending and retracting. Some examples of this are:
Tape Measures
Lightsaber Toys
Slinky
Trumpet
Party Blowers
Retractable keychains
Umbrella
Back Scratcher
Suitcase handles
Personally, while researching I think of designs of furniture after finding forms I like. Sometimes this halts my research as I get caught up on a design I like and then try to manipulate my research to fill in the gaps, trying to have this design as my final piece. Nowadays, I quickly sketch these designs so if I want to go back to them I can. This is so I can get it out of my system and it allows me to forget about it for a bit, allowing me to fully immerse myself in my research again. This is one of my quick design concepts inspired by this from.
Compact Living
Compact living means choosing quality over quantity in some cases. Living in smaller areas is more common nowadays with the cost of living crisis and overpopulation. However, just because we have smaller spaces to work with now doesn't mean the quality of furniture has to decrease with the size. Many people overcome this issue of minimal space with furniture that either shrinks and expands, or is multifunctional.
Unconventional living is becoming an increasingly popular choice amongst homeowners, the latest trend being Tiny Homes. As time goes on more and more people are choosing to live more secluded lives in eco homes, converted shipping containers and many more.
As sustainability has become more of a focus point in recent years people are opting to live in these homes in order to do their part for the environment. As well as being more sustainable, there are many more benefits for the people themselves that live in smaller homes. Tiny homes use less materials to build, making them sustainable but also saving massive amounts of money in the building process and are also cheaper to run, meaning a smaller carbon footprint.
In America Tiny homes are skyrocketing with around 10,000 made and increasing. However, legal issues are making it difficult to take off in the UK as there is no category for 'Tiny Homes' in planning permission. Currently tiny homes fall under the same legal definition as caravans.
Tiny homes come in many different variations, from converted shipping containers, eco cabins, houseboats or bus / van conversions. The only rule that unites all tiny homes is that they must be 400 square ft or under.
The main and obvious downside to Tiny Homes is space. Tiny Homes are suitable for one or two people to live comfortably and face the challenge of maximising efficiency in space usage. However having children and family in these Tiny Homes makes an extremely challenging situation.
Design concepts for compact living below.
Benoît Malta - Inactivité
French designer Benoît Malta debuted a collection which aimed to result in better well-being for the user. Malta did this through the use of "bearable discomfort".
With the aim to reduce the health issues caused by increasingly stationary lifestyles, Malta worked with physical therapists and ergonomists to create three products that create dynamic activity in typical domestic situations.
"Inactivity seems to be the disease of today... Our ways of living have evolved, and our bodies are less and less active. Our living spaces are conceived with the idea of comfort. My aim was to introduce a 'bearable discomfort' for our wellbeing - discomfort used to put the body in motion and thus out of its chronic stationary postures." - Malta
This collection was named Inactivité.
Malta decided to aim towards typically stationary situations at home and insert physical activity into them. He realised that the chair would be a perfect place to start. This beech chair, with only two legs, demands the user to constantly adjust their position in order to maintain their balance. This design activates muscles in the lower leg and back, requiring an upright posture instead of a hunched sitting position. This chair is dependent on the its user as it cant stand without it.
In this collection there was also a lamp with a disk of mirrored glass that turns an LED light on when its elongated handle is raised into the horizontal position. An aluminium counter weight keeps the handle horizontal in order to keep the light on. However, only for a limited time as it slowly weighs the handle down. After which the user must lift the handle again to turn it back on. "This lamp was inspired by roman scales" said Malta.
A series of small CNC cut beech shelves also feature in this collection. Referencing climbing holds, these shelves are designed to be attached to walls in positions that encourage the user to stretch to reach the things that are stored on them.
From this collection what really interests me is the interdependence of the chair and user. I like how the chair can't even stand without the interaction with the user, making it dependant on them. This is something I want to research further as it fits with my theme of people 'fitting' into their furniture like puzzle pieces. By itself its useless but once connected with its missing part it becomes something bigger with a purpose.
Petr Badura - The Mono Chair
The Mono Chair was designed by an Austrian Transportation Student, Petr Badura. This chair is reliant on user interaction to be functional, because it is missing the front two legs. In order for this chair to be stable a person is required to replace the chair legs with their own legs whilst sitting. The whole idea of this product is the fact that the chair is an object that serves the user but is fully dependant on them. This chair can't work without a person who is required for the chair to be complete.
When someone is sitting on The Mono Chair, their legs have to be bent at a 90º angle. In this position the users body weight is distributed on the legs and pressure is minimal. This chair is made of a single piece of bent aluminium sheet.
This is another example of interdependence in furniture, with the chair relying on the user sitting in place in order to perform its desired use.
Codependent - Fletcher Eshbaugh
Codependent belongs to a new category of design that melds Psychology and Design into something called "AbimaForma" representative of both the mind and form. The first piece in this ongoing collection focuses on a physical depiction of a psychological condition.
As stated in its name, codependency is the main focus of this piece. With two interlocking tables that rely on each other functionally, each table useless by itself, standing on its own.
The black void of the larger surface acts as the support with two legs representing the enabler or rescuer and the white table with one leg acts as the victim, a shining beacon of dysfunction.
The two tables seemingly have great physical effect on one another. The black table leaning into the white and the white piercing the black with a turned edge much like a bullet exiting a target.
"The rescuer needs the victim as much as the victim needs the rescuer". - Barbara De Angelis
With this piece 'Codependence' the main focus is actually the psychological condition of codependence unlike in the other pieces I've researched. This gave a different perspective on the theme of dependence as this piece has lots of meaning and expression through its form and colour pallet. Also, with the other pieces the furniture depended on the user in order for it to be functional whereas this piece is codependent on itself, portraying its meaning more by form than use and interaction. This is something I like and may feature in my final piece.
interdependence
After researching these pieces, I would like the theme of interdependence to be a focus point in my project. I feel that this links back with my initial research statement of exploring the way furniture 'fits' with the user or its surroundings, after exploring the theme of interdependence this could also include how it supports itself.
I want to move more away from researching furniture and more into everyday interdependence and where it can be seen in everyday life. This is to help me design a completely new idea without being accidentally too similar to furniture pieces that already exist.
By definition interdependence means two or more people / things dependent on each other.
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of interdependence is couples yoga, two people being dependent on each other to perform a mutually beneficial task. Yoga positions create many different shapes and forms themselves, this could be helpful when coming up with ideas for furniture designs which involve two parts to create one whole form.
These were good to experiment with forms and see what forms the human body can create. However, for my project I want every individual piece of my final outcome to be interdependent. Although some of these have interdependent forms I was hoping to see more interlocking shapes. I will next look at tricks that use human bodies balanced on one another to hold each other up as they are interlocking positions, these can commonly be seen being used by street performers.
British Ceramics Biennial
Even though ceramics isn't my specialism, during our trip to the British Ceramics Biennial, I was Keeping an eye out for any pieces that had interlocking features. This was to inspire any wooden forms I could potentially mimic but in a different material.
The one that stuck out to me the most was "Unseating the Witch" by Leora Honeyman, which can be seen below. This was because of its segmentation aesthetic being made of ten sections all leaning in on one and other, personally reminding me of the form of a Terry's Chocolate Orange.
Design Concepts inspired by this form below.
