Prototype making

prepared blue foams, hot wire cutter & sand paper

The Team at work... one cutting another sanding

platforms & supports that are supposedly identical with each other

satay sticks for joints, to replicate screws and bolts... in a way

closer look...

and the product that transforms...

from step stool to medium stool and then a standard chair!

Conceptualizing the IDEA

improved versions of the the initial sketches

Multi-functional Furniture

after much discussion... 

we've decided to go with this idea because it can accommodate replacement parts too!

we think it should be very simple

in my opinion it should be more simple than lego blocks 

how?

because it's major components are only 2 main parts which are

1. platforms - that are mostly long and flat pieces which would serve as seat tops, table tops, back rest etc
2. supports - that are mainly short and stacking pieces which would serve as legs, stretchers, or any other form of support structure.

rough sketches by the Team

3D Printer

its out there...

wait till you hear how much it cost...

Extra replacement parts

• Get extra replacement/spare parts when we buy furniture

since the parts comes with the furniture that we buy, we can already fix it ourselves at home if the furniture ever breaks. also it is quite unlikely the parts wont fit because it should be given accordingly for us to check.

we wont have to go any further than where we store the replacement parts in our houses to fix the furniture. the drawback? other than the fact that we have to carry the extra weight that the replacements provides, we have to know how to fix it in the first place. the spare furniture parts can only fix damages to a certain extent. if it involves the furniture being utterly destroyed, then there's nothing much the replacement can do. even if we manage to make full use of all replacement parts, eventually they're going to run out one day. at least this method extends the lifespan of the furniture from the time when it first broke... to a certain extent.

• go back to the shop and request for the specific replacement part when furniture spoil/break

first off... it eliminates the previous issue of the hassle to carry too much home for a single furniture. it prevents the replacement becoming clutters at home. and we just need to tell the retail assistant, or see for ourselves the specific parts that are required for the job instead of bringing a whole chunk back when we probably only need a simple part. now the drawback will be having to travel back to the furniture supplier, and it wont be efficient if they're located far away from home. let's say we did travel, make the request and received, having to figure how to put the things together requires effort. if the parts doesn't fit properly isn't bad enough, the worse is probably it damages the furniture further, or even worse... ourselves.

• have the replacement parts delivered to our doorstep by a specialist/repairman

this probably beats the above in getting the replacements parts, no need extra travelling, no need to carry anything, no need to look through and understand instruction manuals, what we need is just a phone call away from fixing the furniture. well now in order to achieve this we'll possibly need to pay more for the service, when it involves a professional, it takes skills, time and money. and of course someone has to be home when they come...

Narrowing the ideas

after discussing with the group, we have to narrow down the ideas which we already did.
but we have refine the ideas even further because the '101 ideas' was suppose to be just a kick-start.
more discussions...
now we have finally decide to look into the so called favourite 3
the 3 ideas are basically sort of mixed around with each other
in a way they can overlap one another

1. Extra replacement parts
2. 3D printer
3. Multi-functional furniture

we have to think about which one is the best one to go for, 

we weight them according to their advantages and disadvantages

to see which of these 3 chosen ideas will be the most ideal solution 

to our problem.

101 Ways to Solve the Problem

It is a fact that furniture does not last forever, and that the choice of material plays a big part in the durability of the furniture. but in order not to limit the solution to the materials we try to come up with as many solutions as possible. though some of them may be a little extreme. and alot of them are very similar.

1. often maintain the furniture
2. clean furniture after use
3. repair the broken furniture
4. protect from weathering
5. avoid exposing to rain and sunshine
6. give penalty to those who damage the furniture
7. avoid pushing & dragging
8. avoid standing on furniture
9. use furniture in the correct way
10. refinish furniture once awhile
11. refrain from using furniture as weapons
12. more function than form
13. use standard materials
14. avoid overloading furniture
15. give wheels to heavy furniture
16. make furniture hydrophobic
17. tighten the screws
18. use furniture for one purpose only
19. use broken furniture to make new ones
20. increase strength through volume of material
21. multi-purpose furniture
22. keep away from children
23. keep away from animals
24. furniture that is easily assembled
25. furniture parts that can be assemble in new ways
26. furniture parts that are easily replace
27. use sustainable materials
28. avoid dropping stuff on the furniture
29. avoid placing furniture in damp area
30. change the material
31. test the furniture before selling
32. add more foundation
33. treat the furniture well
34. avoid direct sunlight
35. avoid water
36. use 3D printer to print furniture
37. use stronger structure
38. do not keep pets
39. fortify furniture with metal parts
40. make an armour for the furniture
41. a company that collects used/broken furniture
42. and make them new again
43. a talk-show that teach people how to take care of furniture
44. a furniture-care course
45. fixed location of furniture
46. longer and bigger tables to be shared
47. replace chairs with benches
48. dig a big hole put the table in and sit around the hole
49. suspended/hanging furniture
50. recessed furniture
51. hidden furniture
52. pop-up furniture
53. remote activated furniture
54. switch activated furniture
55. furniture with sensors
56. furniture that grows itself
57. furniture that can heat up to prevent bugs and moisture
58. furniture hospital
59. recycled furniture
60. rubber furniture
61. bring your own furniture to work/school
62. furniture that can heal/regenerate itself
63. no furniture
64. create multi-purpose furniture
65. used recycle materials to build furniture
66. molded furniture 
67. that can be reshape through certain means like heat, electricity
68. shape shifting/transforming furniture
69. furniture that changes with seasons like colour

but before we hit 101 we already know where we are going with this 

Cheapest Wood

Pine is the cheapest and most readily available softwood for woodworking, hence the most commonly used wood in the construction of furniture. Poplar falls somewhere near pine at being one of the cheapest hardwood available, although it is dependant on seasons and region for the availability of hardwood. but the thing about pine is that it is a softwood ready to be use for mass production among so many things including the furniture that we buy. making short lifespan furnitures an even more common issue.

softwood being so affordable also let most people if not all, to take things for granted. in the sense taking less consideration of maintaining, handling and using of the particular furniture made of softwood, which also speed up the damage process to the product and also taking the furniture closer to replacement.

There are also times when the furniture could still perform its respective task, even it can also be replace simply because it is not aesthetically pleasing anymore. if the replaced furniture is not recycled for better or other use, it becomes wasteful and it will be negative to the environment.

the cheaper woods are mostly readily available, so much so it makes us less conservative. given that if people have the money, they are most willing to swap old for new anytime without second thought. This cycle will just keep go on repeat. the ratio of people throwing away furniture will always be greater, and done faster than to there are people willing to salvage old furniture.

Material - Wood (continue)

just googling about chairs shows a common difference, 

most softwood chairs will have to include stretchers to hold the legs together. 

hardwood chairs have an even distribution of chairs with stretchers and those without.

softwood being light and less tough has its benefits, as evidently as it is generally easier to carry around, easier to handle and work with. e.g. drilling and nailing. one of the reason behind the huge range of softwood applications and usage. for instance, the construction of a cabin. although both types of wood can be use for the construction of the building. softwood fills in most part for the foundation of the house, whereas hardwood is only preferred for flooring and decking.

The drawback of these attributes ultimately contribute to what the current subject of the matter is all about. the lifespan of the furniture products are shorten simply because they are made from softwood as materials. As mentioned earlier that it is suggested eighty percent are softwood.

Material - Wood

Looking into the most commonly used material for the making of furniture

Wood

These are the few popular wood types, they are mainly 2 kinds which are hardwood & softwood.

what actually distinguish softwood and hardwood? how are they different in quality/any other reason that makes one wood more better from the other?

the difference between hardwood and softwood does not necessarily reflect their “hardness”, even though most hardwood are tougher than softwood. The wood types are categorize this way because hardwood generally means wood that are obtain from deciduous trees while softwood are from coniferous trees.

hardwood trees are broad leaved and are trees that reproduce seeds through fruit or hard coverings like nuts. hardwood takes a longer time to grow and reproduce compare to softwood. as hardwood trees are affected by seasons, and rely on animals and insects to spread its seeds for reproduction. some of the well known hardwoods are maple, balsa, oak, elm, mahogany, and poplar etc.

softwood trees are evergreen and have needle-like leaves. the seeds have no coverings, and are release directly from the trees once mature, the wind then spread it over a wide area. hence having the advantage of a much faster reproduction than hardwood trees.
It is suggested that softwood made up eighty percent of the world’s timber production. some of the well known softwood are pine, spruce, cedar, fir, larch etc.

Comparing both softwood and hardwood in terms of physical attributes.hardwood are mainly used for furnitures and flooring. hardwood has usually higher density therefore it is harder and heavier.softwood are mainly used for furnitures, wood-wares for buildings. softwood are less dense therefore less durable and much lighter compared to hardwood.

	Hardwood	Softwood
Colour	Dark	Light
Annular ring	Not Distinct	Distinct
Weight	Heavy	Light
Strength	Strong in compression, tension and shear(strong along and across the grains)	Strong in tension but weak in shear(strong along the grains)
Structure	Non - resinous and close grained	Resinous and splits easy
Fire Resistance	Good	Poor
Conversion	Difficult	Easy

A simple comparison chart taken from here

looking at this comparison chart, i guessed it is all acceptable to assume that furniture made from most hardwood types will definitely last longer than softwood types in most if not all situations. Even though softwood are more prone to dents and scratches, there are still many reasons why people still using them.

Empathy (continue)

so after doing some 'research'

to put things into perspective here

we generalize the idea

of what people go through

before, during and after

the whole process of owning a furniture

1. we go shopping for furniture, want to buy something really good
2. but it seem/was way too expensive
3. so we bought something else because it was cheap and affordable
4. it probably wasn't meant to last long and broke/spoil
5. we tend not to fix them or it can't be fixed/repaired
6. we decide to just buy new ones
7. repeat...

Empathy

So what is empathy?

it is very complicated

it started a long time ago

without people even realising it

in fact empathy is part of our growing process

to simplify it as much as possible

it began when people were babies

when one baby started crying,

the other babies started crying

together for no apparent reason.

empathy take shape when 

we were little kids

we learn about life

how fragile life is

we start looking into ways to understand living itself

we started to think about how other people live their lives

and realise similarities and that we are not that different after all

sort of like a sense of belonging

and yes empathy involves emotions and sufferings and pain 

and a lot of other feelings to go along with it.

anyone can empathize, but not everyone can do it well

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/1Evwgu369Jw/maxresdefault.jpg

above was a clip shown to the class to explain empathy

it is often confuse with sympathy.
it describes empathy in a few parts which are

1. perspective taking and gaining perspective
2. stay out of judgement
3. recognize emotions
4. feeling with people

through this exercise we are suppose to find out what troubles comes with the short lifespan of furniture that affects the users, and maybe from there we can work out something towards a solution

in a way we are suppose to put ourselves in their shoes, or rather 

"sit on their chairs"... as i like to put it

since we are dealing with furniture and chair was the immediate furniture came to mind.

Mind Mapping the Problem

At the Beginning,

we are task with a specific problem and to solve it together as a team.

to start things off,

a mind-map of the problem.

so what causes the short lifespan of furniture?

this is the the outcome of our group discussion

it may seem like an overly simplified mind-map because it is what it is.

we tried to keep things really simple for our audience/classmates to understand.

To break things down here, we believe some of the main causes are

• the people, as in the generation and the way of doing things now, the economic conditions, are we all about the new is always better? and least conserving as compare to the past etc.
• the quality of products, talks about choice of materials, craftsmanship, cost etc.
• the environment, where the furniture is placed, climate conditions, etc.
• the usage, how are the furniture being used, taken care of? methods of using etc.
• and the design, talks about mass production, poor designs, and designs that are not meant to last etc.