Month: July 2016

Inspiration – Baby Crib

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One of the furniture that inspires me the most is the baby crib. Especially in western country, baby crib has timeless designs, neutral colours that can be accessories time and again when you want to change your ‘look’. It it environmentally friendly, instead of crib being replaced, they simply convert to suit the age of your child. Baby crib probably is one of the single biggest purchases when baby is on the way, which is a nursery furniture. After spending so much money on a crib it is quite wasted that when the child is approximately 12 months old, they will outgrow it. At best, the crib will last until a child is four (if it also converts to a Toddler bed).It’s at this age four that most parents ditch the junior bed and have to fork out again for a full-size single.

One of the most famous one is from Leander furniture, the company create stunning children’s furniture. Designed by Stig Leander of Denmark.

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The most amazing thing about this furniture line is its functionality. Each piece grows with your child, and converts to varying sizes to accommodate their ever growing bodies. This high chair has so many variations that it will stay with your child from baby years through teenage years.

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I feel that their changing table is also very practical. Children don’t stay in diapers forever, so when you got over the days of changing diapers, you can turn it  into a desk. It is a good transitions into something a child will continue to use, or to be passed on to the parent. Which I think is very useful and the furniture may bring back memories during the diaper days when parents are using the desk.

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Baby crib and other nursery furniture will be the first thing I want to explore, of what kind of furniture it can be transform into. But ending the product into a bed is not what I would want my product to be. I am still thinking of something fun, something that maybe it can be a playing furniture during  child age, transforming into a useful furniture during adult age, and a companion furniture during the old age. Instead of making a furniture that is useful for different growing stage, I am more interested in giving different meaning along the stages.

FYP Proposal

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What am I doing?

The product I want to work on will be a transformable furniture, a hybrid between a furniture for a child and an adult. An example would be a mini slide for children that can be transformed into a study desk. At any point in time depending on the user’s configuration, the furniture would serve as either a mini slide or a study desk and not both.

 

Why am I doing it?

The rationale behind this product innovation lies within a common problem faced by households who have children who have outgrown their “toys-for-kids”. More often than not, families or parents tend to give away their children’s old toys or play tools to other families who have little children. Bigger items like a mini slide will become more cumbersome to give away while at the same time, consumes too much space within the house if it is kept. If the slide was expensive (it probably is), it would also be quite a waste to simply give or throw it away.

 

Bearing this thought in mind, I was inspired to create a multi-faceted piece of furniture to not only save cost and space for the user, but also promote a sense of sustainability within the furniture.

 

How am I doing it?

Extensive research has to be conducted on the type of material that will be going into the production of this hybrid furniture. The material has to be something durable and sturdy to last a good number of years while at the same time, be appropriate or safe enough to make slides for example. Apart from selecting the right material for the product, I will also be exploring on how furniture is made. It is important to delve deep into the minute details of furniture making as this might not only provide me with an insight on how I should go about creating the furniture but also serve as an stimulation for ideas.