tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/furniture-12305/articlesFurniture – The Conversation2022-12-26T20:52:15Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1955682022-12-26T20:52:15Z2022-12-26T20:52:15ZRethinking the big spring clean chuck-out frenzy: how keeping old things away from the landfill can ‘spark joy’ in its own way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499484/original/file-20221207-26-gh9dy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C43%2C5790%2C3692&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Driving home recently, I encountered a familiar sight: four dining chairs on the kerb waiting for some sucker to rescue them. Loading them into the car (sucker!) I wondered: how long were these chairs in shed limbo-land before finally getting kicked to the kerb? </p>
<p>When a wooden chair goes a bit wonky, it feels counter-intuitive to throw it away when it’s mostly OK. It’s often demoted to the shed, with the optimistic thought: “The wood is still good. Maybe it could be fixed.” </p>
<p>But will you really fix it? Sell it? Give it? Keep it? Nah. Chuck it.</p>
<p>Chucking has become easy – and socially acceptable. The pressure to de-clutter, galvanised by the <a href="https://konmari.com/about-marie-kondo/">Marie Kondo</a> tidying-up craze, can feel moralistic. “Just chuck it already!” we say to ourselves, or our partners.</p>
<p>Kondo’s books (more than <a href="https://konmari.com/about-marie-kondo/">13 million sold</a>) implore us to discard ruthlessly any item that doesn’t immediately “spark joy”, with Kondo <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/41711738-jinsei-ga-tokimeku-katazuke-no-maho?fbclid=IwAR2lOCN38fT-LzljeqBFd1KAV1q5t_qci9r7kS23fLXAmbYWUDqc0N0ZEEw&page=14">urging</a> us to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>not be distracted by thoughts of being wasteful […] to get rid of what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful […] so, arm yourself with plenty of garbage bags and prepare to have fun!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Kondo promotes throwing things “away” or “out” without addressing where exactly that nebulous place is. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chairs pile up in landfill" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Where do chucked-out things go?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-a-tree-dies-dont-waste-your-breath-rescue-the-wood-to-honour-its-memory-125137">When a tree dies, don't waste your breath. Rescue the wood to honour its memory</a>
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<h2>Where do chucked-out things go?</h2>
<p>These items do not disappear when flung into the ether. They land quite concretely in expanding landfills that degrade landscapes and ecosystems, taint water supplies, and pump out methane as carbon is released during decomposition.</p>
<p>In a world of unbridled consumerism, we are experiencing a waste crisis. We dispose of tremendous amounts of furniture while consuming masses of new furniture, all in the midst of global <a href="https://theconversation.com/timber-shortages-look-set-to-delay-home-building-into-2023-these-4-graphs-show-why-185197">timber supply shortages</a>. </p>
<p>Even buying well-crafted, locally made “green” furnishings from sustainably harvested timber doesn’t stop our chucked-out things from rotting in landfill.</p>
<p>In my <a href="https://soad.cass.anu.edu.au/people/ashley-eriksmoen">research</a>, I have spoken to craftspeople, academics, community organisers, and environmental activists about furniture waste. The message is consistent: try to keep what already exists circulating in the world. </p>
<h2>Waste as a cultural construct</h2>
<p>Waste is often described as “matter out of place”. What we define as rubbish is a matter of perspective. It’s a <a href="https://axonjournal.com.au/issues/11-2/breakingun-breaking-un-makingmaking">cultural construct</a>.</p>
<p>A wonky chair may be only negligibly different to its original state. But even if still functioning, or easily repaired, it becomes worthless once worn or wobbly.</p>
<p>This loss of value is reflected in waste collection policies and op-shops. It’s simple to book a council pickup collection or donate to an op-shop. It’s just so easy to get rid of things.</p>
<p>But either that chair is in good serviceable condition and is diverted from the waste stream for reuse, or it’s deemed rubbish and sent to the pit. There is no middle ground for easily repairable items. </p>
<p>If a chair is an antique, finely crafted, or of sentimental value, people tend to make the effort and spend money on expert restoration work. </p>
<p>But it can be hard to justify that for an ordinary chair. </p>
<p>Sandie Parkes, founder and owner of the Canberra Green Sheds, is awash in chairs to the point where they intermittently need to cull them, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Every day we are offered about ten times more chairs than we can possibly sell.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Broken chairs lie on the street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Few people know where to begin with fixing a wooden chair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ashley Eriksmoen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Learning to repair</h2>
<p>Few people know where to begin with fixing a wooden chair. But many community groups teach such skills. <a href="https://twoshedsworkshops.com.au/">Two Sheds Workshops</a> in Canberra and Bega has woodworking and upholstery classes for women and children to learn basic skills and boost confidence.</p>
<p>Jess Semler, Two Sheds Workshop’s Canberra manager, told me, told me repair “doesn’t have to be a convoluted or long process. There is no one right way to fix something.” Once the process is demystified, students can work out how to fix other things, bringing creativity and playfulness to the process.</p>
<p>Greg Peters, key conservator of <a href="http://www.patinations.com.au/">Patinations Conservation Service</a> in Canberra, reiterated that for everyday, mass-produced furniture with no inherent historical or financial value, most repairs are actually relatively simple if you just “give it a go”, learn from the internet and remember there’s usually nothing to lose in trying.</p>
<p>Don’t have the tools? Ask around. Dr Niklavs Rubenis, a senior lecturer in object design at the University of Tasmania, suggests tapping into the collective knowledge of communities by asking neighbours for advice, or to borrow and share tools. </p>
<p>One positive global trend is the proliferation of repair cafes, where volunteers and clients can drop-in to pop-up repair events. </p>
<p>Griffith University’s Professor Leanne Wiseman researches the international <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-10/act-right-to-repair-movement-growing-in-australia/100283348">Right to Repair</a> movement, and is part of the <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/law-futures-centre/our-research/australian-repair-network">Australian Repair Network</a>. Wiseman counts about 100 repair cafes in Australia, most of which are listed <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/law-futures-centre/our-research/australian-repair-network">here</a>, operated mostly by volunteers bringing their own equipment.</p>
<p>And there are at least <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=tool+library+australia&rlz=1C5GCEM_enAU963AU965&biw=1440&bih=769&tbm=lcl&ei=EBiQY-zkCtKphwOO84PAAg&oq=Tool+Library&gs_lcp=Cg1nd3Mtd2l6LWxvY2FsEAEYAzIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgARQAFgAYLgWaABwAHgAgAGqAYgBqgGSAQMwLjGYAQDAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz-local#rlfi=hd:;si:;mv:%5B%5B-27.7448986052003,155.93609047581103%5D,%5B-38.97913985445452,133.52398110081103%5D,null,%5B-33.54423302832462,144.73003578831103%5D,6">11</a> <a href="https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/i-dont-need-power-drill-i-only-use-it-once-year-how-i-started-community-tool-library/">tool libraries</a> across Australia.</p>
<h2>Finding a good home for broken furniture</h2>
<p>Time poor or not keen to repair? Try posting on Facebook Marketplace or your local Facebook Buy Nothing group. You might connect your old chair to someone keen to fix it or harvest its usable timber for creative reuse.</p>
<p>My practice as an artist involves re-purposing abandoned chairs into works of critical design, which provokes viewers to rethink everyday objects. </p>
<p>My work <a href="https://www.habitusliving.com/design-hunters/people/ashley-eriksmoen-afda-winner">The Dream, or The view from here is both bleak and resplendent</a> is made from discarded chairs and has 47 legs touching the floor and a tangled canopy cresting over the seat. It raises questions about consumption and reuse.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">My work: The Dream, or The view from here is both bleak and resplendent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Paterson of Dorian Photographics</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The chairs I rescued recently were made from dark stained wood. The look was dated, and the white seats were stained, but structurally, the chairs were in good nick. I will be deconstructing them and shaping parts into leafy stems to make new sculptural works that return the wood to plant and tree-like forms, like I did in my recent work for <a href="https://sculpturebythesea.com/gallery/?filter=artist:ashley-eriksmoen">Sculpture by the Sea</a> in Bondi. Another chair set saved from the pit.</p>
<p>I get it. Holidays and new year’s resolutions often mean big clean-ups. But before you chuck out good or almost-good things for the sake of decluttering, ask yourself if there’s a less wasteful option. (And if you really must get new chairs, consider finding quality second-hand chairs that will last). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Discarded furniture lies on a street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Think before you chuck.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Nobody is saying you should become a hoarder. But not everything needs to be Marie Kondo-ed just because it doesn’t “spark joy”. Make peace with old items, even if they’re a bit dated. They can often be spruced up with a bit of glue, paint or fresh upholstery. Think carefully before you throw out something good or fixable as part of a furious spring clean.</p>
<p>When I bring furniture into my house, I think of it like a pet – something that should be cared for and not discarded on a whim. Furniture can last for generations if we just let it. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/design-and-repair-must-work-together-to-undo-our-legacy-of-waste-119932">Design and repair must work together to undo our legacy of waste</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Jameson Eriksmoen has received funding from Australia Council for the Arts, ArtsACT, Melbourne Art Foundation, Transport Canberra and City Services. She is a board member of the non-profit Greenwood Global.</span></em></p>Not everything needs to be Marie Kondo-ed just because it doesn’t ‘spark joy’. Ask yourself if there’s a less wasteful option.Ashley Jameson Eriksmoen, Senior Lecturer, School of Art & Design, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1236822019-09-23T20:10:22Z2019-09-23T20:10:22Z‘Transformer’ rooms and robo-furniture are set to remake our homes – and lives – before our eyes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293505/original/file-20190923-23796-1bn4c6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C48%2C1914%2C1028&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Ori 'Cloud Bed' is lifted and lowered from a ceiling recess to create space that doubles as bedroom and living room.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ori/YouTube (screengrab)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With two-thirds of a global population of 9.4 billion people <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">expected to live in urban areas by 2050</a>, we can expect a change in the domestic living arrangements we are familiar with today.</p>
<p>In high-density cities, the static apartment layouts with one function per room will become a luxury that cannot be maintained. The traditional notion of a dedicated living room, bedroom, bathroom or kitchen will no longer be economically or environmentally sustainable. Building stock will need to work harder.</p>
<p>The need to use building space more efficiently means adaptive and responsive domestic micro-environments will replace the old concept of static rooms within a private apartment.</p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-density-matters-but-what-does-it-mean-58977">Urban density matters – but what does it mean?</a>
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<p>These changes will reframe our idea of what home means, what we do in it, and how the home itself can support and help inhabitants with domestic living.</p>
<h2>So how will these flexible spaces work?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90399075/alphabet-is-betting-that-the-future-of-real-estate-is-robotic">Sidewalk Labs</a> and <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90358727/ikea-is-quietly-debuting-robotic-furniture">IKEA</a> are collaborating with <a href="https://oriliving.com/">Ori</a>, a robotic furniture startup that emerged from the <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2018/startup-ori-robotic-furniture-0131">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a>, to transform our use of increasingly sparse urban living space. They have developed ways to enhance existing apartments with pre-manufactured standardised products to make living spaces flexible. </p>
<p>Leading product designers have produced tantalising concepts of how these newly developed products could enhance our lives in cities where space is at a premium. One example is based on a floor plan measuring just 3m by 3.5m. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4uuEQxmEum8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Yves Béhar and MIT Media Lab’s design for a robotic furniture system for small apartments, which reconfigures itself for different functions.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The more intensive use of building space with hyper-dense living will have impacts on circulation spaces. It will require more services in tighter spaces and a vigilant eye on emergency evacuation pathways. Public space will be much more crowded and play a more important role in our well-being.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-friendly-furniture-in-public-places-matters-more-than-ever-in-todays-city-83568">People-friendly furniture in public places matters more than ever in today's city</a>
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<p>The robotic furniture that is available now could also help people with some form of impairment negotiate their home environment. An example is a bed that tilts up into a position that makes it easier to get out. </p>
<p>Some furniture now on the market has similar mechanically assisted functions to help people get out of a chair. This can be expanded into a broader range of facilitated living aids for people with physical and other impairments.</p>
<h2>Ease of transformation is the key</h2>
<p>Mobile furniture is not a new idea. The late 1980s and early 1990s spawned a whole range of mobile furniture, such as tables on wheels and sideboards with castors. </p>
<p>We have always tried to make rooms adaptable. Japanese screens or room dividers were one way. We have space-saving and transforming furniture from IKEA such as folded-up hallway tables that can become dining tables. </p>
<p>The idea of being able to transform our living space made these mobile furnishings enticing. But they all required a range of manual actions and this effort meant that, after a few initial experiments with them, they ended up in one static position. These mobile items became integrated and firmly located within the accumulations of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article/15/2/139/1841428" title="Possessions and the Extended Self">things that make up our private sphere and who we are</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reinventing-density-co-living-the-second-domestic-revolution-66410">Reinventing density: co-living, the second domestic revolution</a>
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<p>Industrial designers such as the late <a href="https://www.apnews.com/c902ea0b489e4a5892e0382965cdd8df">Luigi Colani</a> designed pre-manufactured <a href="https://www.designboom.com/architecture/luigi-colani-rotor-house/">dwellings with rotating interiors</a> – but the ease of transformation is what really makes a difference now. It’s likely to have reverberating effects.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qlr7JnOuUEE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Luigi Colani’s Rotor House.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The term robotic furniture conjures up <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055683/">Jetsons</a>-like images, but what this means is we will have adaptive spaces. Rooms will transform from bedroom into living room or from study into entertainment space at the touch of a button, a gesture, or a voice command. </p>
<p>While the videos (above) of beautifully designed spaces make the idea tantalisingly attractive, we need to bear in mind these are initial concepts, even though well-developed. But this heralds the beginning of an entirely new way of conceiving and inhabiting space. We have reached a time where everything is in flux.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TbgLp9EpTyI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Ori Cloud Bed in action.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It introduces another element into our daily routine. The time it takes for the transformation to be completed plays a big role. Too slow and we think twice about it, too fast and it might knock a few things about. In the examples shown (above) they are workable and safe.</p>
<p>If we take this development a step further, the way our cupboards store and provide access to our things might be next in line for robotic optimisation.</p>
<h2>It’s not just rooms that will be transformed</h2>
<p>There are still questions to be answered. For example, will the speed of the spatial transformation taking place influence the speed of our personal routines, like the time we allow for our morning coffee routine before heading out the door?</p>
<p>How will these new flexible spaces affect our sense of belonging and feeling at home, when everything can change with a voice command? </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/control-cost-and-convenience-determine-how-australians-use-the-technology-in-their-homes-114510">Control, cost and convenience determine how Australians use the technology in their homes</a>
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<p>Robotically optimised homes might change culture in similar ways to how digital communications altered our conversations, social conduct, personal relationships, and behaviour.</p>
<p>The way we think about building and living in high-rise apartments, which we have done for hundreds of years, is about to take a turn. It could transform how we conceive of and inhabit vertical space. </p>
<p>Existing building typologies and the ways and means of how buildings are designed and developed will change entirely. This has the potential to have a massive and disruptive impact on real estate development, building design and regulation, construction methods, housing and social policy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Tietz receives funding from the Australian Government's Department of Industry, Innovation and Science's Smart Cities and Suburbs Program</span></em></p>With space at a premium, robotic furniture can transform a room in seconds. How will this affect our sense of belonging and feeling at home, when everything can change with a voice command?Christian Tietz, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1214042019-08-09T15:05:36Z2019-08-09T15:05:36ZIkea v Pepperfry: India the venue for a David and Goliath furniture fight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287526/original/file-20190809-144862-195bkkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ikea's Hyderabad store has not been as busy as the Swedish giants had hoped.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">fotosunny / Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ikea is celebrating its first anniversary of operating in India. Even though the company secured regulatory approval to enter the country in 2013, it took five years of effort and significant investment before the first Ikea megastore opened <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/08/news/companies/ikea-in-india-hyderabad/index.html">its doors to Indian consumers in Hyderabad in 2018</a>. </p>
<p>The response was overwhelming – 40,000 shoppers turned up on day one, resulting in two-hour long queues just to get inside, <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/around-40000-people-visit-ikea-hyderabad-store-on-first-day-twitter-reacts/story/281216.html">while traffic built up outside</a> the store. Ikea has since purchased land parcels in Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurugram (near Delhi), announced a ten-fold increase in its employee strength to 15,000 and set a target to reach 200m customers in three years. </p>
<p>Despite Ikea’s big ambitions <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/ikea-to-increase-india-employee-count-10-fold/article25558896.ece">to increase its presence in India</a> and capitalise on a growing middle class market, as well as its experience in doing so around the world, it faces stiff local competition from Pepperfry, India’s existing, largest online furniture retailer. </p>
<p>On the surface, there is no comparison between Ikea and Pepperfry. One is a global player with deep pockets, more than US$40 billion in revenues and decades of experience. The other is a six-year-old venture capital backed start-up that is <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/F226AIOSrtquvHbK0WZ0kO/Pepperfry-cuts-losses-by-32-in-201718.html">yet to turn in profits</a>. But a closer look at Pepperfry’s business fundamentals reveals that there is more to it than meets the eye.</p>
<h2>Strategic choices</h2>
<p>When Pepperfry’s co-founders, Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah, both formerly of eBay, made their first investment pitch to a venture capital firm in mid-2011, the concept of an online furniture marketplace <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/GjGHZcLEOFJ0QN7gjGuq5I/Ikeas-India-entry-may-quicken-shift-to-organized-furniture.html">was unheard of</a>. Furniture was not a natural fit for e-commerce because of its high value and non standard nature (compared to books, music or electronic goods). Indian consumers preferred local retailers or trusted carpenters over an online supplier. Plus, the supporting infrastructure in terms of logistics was lacking. </p>
<p>Undoubtedly, Pepperfry had decided to follow a riskier path in building a business model around an online platform. But its co-founders made some strategic choices to make a success of the business.</p>
<p>One of the trickiest elements of the furniture business is offering the right combination of variety, quality and price. Murty and Shah changed the game by building a well-curated offering from specialist merchants, small and medium enterprises and artisanal woodworkers in furniture manufacturing hubs in north India. They built personal relationships with their suppliers, digitised their catalogue and constantly improved their operations. After carefully selecting and listing products, they then use data analytics to track which ones are the most popular and scale up or remove them accordingly. Based on consumer choices, they continually give feedback on designs and trends to their manufacturers.</p>
<p>Success so far has also been built by ensuring that Pepperfry offers customers the same service in multiple ways – whether that’s online via their computer or mobile, or offline. This omnichannel approach is increasingly important for the success of any retail business. </p>
<p>The company launched Studio Pepperfry, an offline store, in Mumbai in 2014 - an industry first for an online platform in India. It now <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pepperfry-studio-location-to-increase-50-as-sales-double/articleshow/69859900.cms">has 65 across 28 Indian cities</a>. These studios act as experiential centres and are staffed by interior designers to help people choose what they want. Nothing is for sale; instead, the studios act in service of the online offering.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287523/original/file-20190809-144878-ubhwun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287523/original/file-20190809-144878-ubhwun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287523/original/file-20190809-144878-ubhwun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287523/original/file-20190809-144878-ubhwun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287523/original/file-20190809-144878-ubhwun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287523/original/file-20190809-144878-ubhwun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287523/original/file-20190809-144878-ubhwun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Pepperfry studio in Mumbai.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/124854278@N07/48186262257/in/photolist-ykfPC6-2gR7rq6-2gR7rwD-2gq3Xcx-2gq3U4o-PFnaib-2gR7riC-2gR6FhL-2gNccTd-2gNcXnU-2gNcXmg-2gNccND-2gzS8u3-2gq4fqX-2gq4bZ8-2gq4beA">Pepperfry</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>The third and perhaps most important element of Pepperfry’s success has come from building its own logistics arm – including first-mile pickup and last-mile delivery of all the company’s furniture. Consider transporting a 300kg four-door wardrobe 1,500km from the manufacturing site in north India to the largest demand centre in south India. This involves going through multiple hubs before the wardrobe reaches the end consumer, resulting in skyrocketing costs as well as very high chances of breakage. </p>
<p>After a poor initial experience with third-party logistics providers and the lack of alternatives in the Indian market, Pepperfry decided to build its logistics infrastructure from the ground up and learn on the go. An in-house logistics arm is another industry first in India, particularly for an online platform provider. According to <a href="https://yourstory.com/2018/03/online-furniture-platform-pepperfry-won-fiscal-fitness-trophy-fy2018">some estimates</a>, Pepperfry’s logistics arm is the largest business-to-customer big-box delivery service in India.</p>
<h2>Competitive advantage</h2>
<p>Given Pepperfry’s competitive advantage, Ikea may struggle to beat this local start-up. If anything, its strategy appears to mirror that of Pepperfry. Ikea <a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/ikea-reverses-its-omni-channel-strategy-for-expansion-in-mumbai/">recently announced it was reversing plans</a> to launch its second store in Mumbai. Instead of opening the offline store, it is starting online sales instead. It will then introduce smaller outlets across the country, in sharp contrast to the signature Ikea shopping experience of large out-of-town megastores. </p>
<p>Ikea’s Hyderabad store manager, John Achillea told India’s Economic Times newspaper that footfall in the Hyderabad store <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/not-quite-a-crush-yet-ikeas-high-on-low-price-volumes/articleshow/67783468.cms?from=mdr">was 2m below the projected 7m</a> in the first year and its sales numbers are not public. The store now runs a free shuttle bus service for customers from a few points around the city.</p>
<p>India is a large and growing market. The furniture industry there is worth <a href="https://www.techsciresearch.com/news/218-india-furniture-market-to-surpass-usd32-billion-by-2019.html">US$32 billion</a> and projected <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/05/07/1818085/0/en/India-s-Furniture-Market-Forecast-to-2023-61-Billion-Opportunity-Analysis.html">to double to US$61 billion by 2023</a>. Ikea will be hoping to capitalise on this. But, in the meantime, Indian players have effectively held their ground by leveraging local knowledge and addressing the country’s infrastructure challenges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121404/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>India’s furniture industry is worth US$32billion and is projected to double by 2023.Ivy Buche, Associate Director, Business Transformation Initiative, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Amit Joshi, Professor of Digital Marketing and Strategy, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1003362018-09-04T04:23:46Z2018-09-04T04:23:46ZExplainer: can you copyright furniture?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234722/original/file-20180904-41732-40zjei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The on-paper designs for furniture belong to the designer, just like any other artists. But things get more complicated when designs become physical objects. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Furniture stores are often filled with designs that look similar to others. But is copying furniture legal, and should we feel bad about buying replicas?</p>
<p>Recently, interior designers <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/interiors/customers-angered-by-retailer-pulling-wooden-stool-night-before-sale/news-story/107fe3c91829548e30625c812d1c592e">accused the supermarket Aldi</a> of copying an Australian designer’s stool in the launch of a new range of “luxe” furniture. Some, including the Design Institute of Australia, noted the stool’s similarities to designer Mark Tuckey’s eggcup stool, which retails for more than $550. Aldi withdrew its stool (priced at $69) on the day of the sale, citing quarantine issues and said it was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ALDI.Australia/posts/2086722988051858">scheduled to return to stores</a> in late August. (There is no suggestion that Aldi has broken the law here). </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1019707020427972608"}"></div></p>
<p>In general, copying furniture designs that have not been registered in Australia is likely to be legal. This means that, in most circumstances when designers have not registered their work, businesses are able to sell, and Australian consumers are able to purchase, replica furniture without breaking the law.</p>
<h2>How designs are protected</h2>
<p>A designer of furniture, fashion or any other product will normally start out by creating a 2D drawing of their product. The drawing might be made by hand or using a computer or machine. This initial design is automatically protected under copyright law as an “artistic work”. For most types of artistic works, copyright lasts for the lifetime of the creator plus an additional 70 years. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228976/original/file-20180724-189310-dsnb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228976/original/file-20180724-189310-dsnb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228976/original/file-20180724-189310-dsnb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228976/original/file-20180724-189310-dsnb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228976/original/file-20180724-189310-dsnb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228976/original/file-20180724-189310-dsnb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228976/original/file-20180724-189310-dsnb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Furniture designers’ drawings will be protected under copyright automatically.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hand-designer-pen-designing-sketching-his-423583966?src=Yt3eMu9c0j5UsmLzv2Q3_g-1-12">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Copyright law prevents a person from copying someone else’s work if they do not have permission or a legal excuse. Making a 3D reproduction of a 2D artistic work counts as “copying” under law. So a person who makes, for example, a physical 3D chair using a designer’s 2D design of that chair may be infringing copyright of that 2D artistic work. </p>
<p>However, there is an interesting feature of copyright law that applies only to designers. A designer will lose copyright protection in their 2D artistic work if it is “industrially applied”. </p>
<p>“Industrial application” is generally understood to mean that 50 or more copies of the 3D product deriving from the design are made and offered for sale. Any mass commercial production will therefore take the product outside of the scope of copyright law. </p>
<p>However, mass-designed products can be protected by Australia’s <a href="https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/designs">designs system</a>. This system protects the visual appearance of a product. Unlike with copyright, designers must register their designs to be protected under law. </p>
<p>For a design to be registered, it must meet certain minimum requirements. Importantly, it must be new and visually distinctive. The novelty of a design is critical to protection. These requirements ensure that ordinary and unremarkable designs are not constrained by intellectual property law, but are free for people to make and sell.</p>
<p>How is this determined? An application for design registration is filed with and assessed by <a href="https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/">IP Australia</a>, located in Canberra. It usually takes between three and 12 months to process an application, and costs around $300 to apply. Once registered, design protection lasts for five years, with the opportunity to renew registration for a further five years - so 10 years in total.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/adds2/adds.adds_namelist_search.paint_name_search">designs register</a> is searchable online. Our search did not reveal any designs registered to Mark Tuckey.</p>
<h2>Incomplete protection is deliberate</h2>
<p>There are important policy reasons why designers are not given complete protection under intellectual property law. For one, it is often difficult to determine what is an original design when aesthetics meets functionality - there are a limited number of ways to design a seat that people will actually want to sit on! Designs protection is limited so that consumers can affordably access practical products. </p>
<p>Designs law tries to balance a designer’s right to protect their product with the public’s right to access. Getting the balance right is tricky, and is likely to be under increasing pressure with the advent of 3D printing for the home.</p>
<p>It is now possible to <a href="https://www.sculpteo.com/blog/2018/02/21/3d-printed-furniture-appliances-of-the-future/">print replica furniture</a>, and this practice may become more popular as 3D printing technology becomes simultaneously more sophisticated and more widely available. This is likely to raise ongoing questions about the scope of designs protection under copyright and designs law, and whether the law is appropriately tailored to protect designers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228977/original/file-20180724-76263-6mx6s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228977/original/file-20180724-76263-6mx6s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228977/original/file-20180724-76263-6mx6s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228977/original/file-20180724-76263-6mx6s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228977/original/file-20180724-76263-6mx6s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228977/original/file-20180724-76263-6mx6s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228977/original/file-20180724-76263-6mx6s5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The option of 3D printing your furniture brings about new headaches for copyright.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/3d-printer-printing-close-process-new-525745555?src=_smqNJDqkLScDs7JNEfXiQ-1-44">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For Australian designers, the answer may not be stronger legal protection. First, we should ensure that the designs registration system is working effectively. Anecdotal reports suggest that the designs system is underused. We need to make sure that registration is affordable and accessible. Only then will we be in a position to know whether the protection offered by designs registration is enough. </p>
<p>For consumers, the good news is that replica furniture is likely to continue to be available in retail stores. There is certainly nothing illegal about <em>buying</em> replica furniture. Those with the budget to do so, however, may want to consider supporting local Australian designers of furniture and home crafts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100336/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kylie Pappalardo is a postdoctoral researcher on the ARC Discovery Project: "Inventing the Future: Intellectual Property and 3D Printing". </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karnika Bansal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How are furniture designers protected by law, and what is an ‘original design’ when aesthetics meets functionality?Kylie Pappalardo, Lecturer, School of Law, Queensland University of TechnologyKarnika Bansal, Research Assistant, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/908962018-01-30T14:07:35Z2018-01-30T14:07:35ZThe Ikea effect: how Ingvar Kamprad’s company changed the way we shop<p>Ingvar Kamprad, who started Ikea as a teenager, has died at the age of 91. He started with stationery and stockings, but went on to build one of the world’s biggest furniture companies. And the way he did it has revolutionised how retailers operate. </p>
<p>There are two facets of modern life that we have Ikea to thank for: flat-pack furniture and a <a href="https://m.ikea.com/ms/en_MY/img/store_images/default_store/Map.jpg">shop layout</a> that gets you buying more of its products than you initially intended to. Both are principles that a number of other companies have put to good use.</p>
<p>Ikea first brought out its now signature style of flat-pack furniture in the 1950s. Whether you love or loathe this concept, it was a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ikea-used-affordable-and-innovative-design-to-transform-the-homes-of-everyday-consumers-86069">stroke of genius</a> and a effective way of making the masses value the brand. There are the <a href="https://www.fastcodesign.com/3057837/the-man-behind-ikeas-world-conquering-flat-pack-design">obvious aspects</a> of cost efficiency and the practicality of shipping. But flat-pack furniture also has an important subconscious influence on consumers. </p>
<p>When Ikea made the switch away from selling furniture that was already assembled, it was most likely unaware of how it would influence its consumers. Yet scientists have since managed to pinpoint why consumers simply can’t get enough of building their own furniture. The simple act of touching products (and what better way to ensure touch based interaction than through assembling a piece of furniture) can increase your <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10350330.2011.591996http:/www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10350330.2011.591996">overall perceived value</a> of the product. Couple this with the fact that the more effort a consumer has to put into building something the more they like it – you have an undoubtedly winning formula. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057740811000829">Tests have shown</a> that the actual act of putting something together (even though there may be sweat, swearing and tears involved) so that it becomes a complete object generates a much more favourable perception of that object than it would purchasing it in a completed form. The phenomenon is known as <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/11-091.pdf">the Ikea effect</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203988/original/file-20180130-107683-1smm8qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203988/original/file-20180130-107683-1smm8qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203988/original/file-20180130-107683-1smm8qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203988/original/file-20180130-107683-1smm8qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203988/original/file-20180130-107683-1smm8qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203988/original/file-20180130-107683-1smm8qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203988/original/file-20180130-107683-1smm8qs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’ll be worth it in the end.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/couple-putting-together-self-assembly-furniture-165133442?src=pExQzO6-2EGlxukAu9SVeA-1-49">shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This effect is further enhanced by the fact that touch itself is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23538146">neurologically coupled with emotion</a>. This means that when we touch something the emotive part of our brain is activated so that we experience a close connection with the product. Touch creates feelings of ownership and increases the perceived value we have of items. Thus the happy assembler of the flat pack will, once finished, feel proud of their achievement and experiencing feelings of being closely connected to the item.</p>
<h2>Round and round in circles</h2>
<p>The layout of the Ikea stores has also paved the way for a more creative way of thinking about how to guide shoppers. If you have ever visited one of its huge warehouse stores, you may have gone in thinking you were only buying a few items, to find yourself coming out of the store with a trolley full of things. This is because of its circular design and one way system.</p>
<p>This design means you often can’t see what is coming next and fear you’ll miss something you need if you don’t continue all the way along the path. There are potential escape points throughout the store, but that would mean that you will miss several of the sections and rarely consumers are prepared to take that risk. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203993/original/file-20180130-107679-18uzs5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203993/original/file-20180130-107679-18uzs5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203993/original/file-20180130-107679-18uzs5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203993/original/file-20180130-107679-18uzs5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203993/original/file-20180130-107679-18uzs5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203993/original/file-20180130-107679-18uzs5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203993/original/file-20180130-107679-18uzs5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">You know you want those tea lights.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sea-turtle/4524425632/in/photolist-w72AD-7vHLCW-5PV4Ny-byHbv-7TNS7u-3Ro59-CD9yN-7cVKg-7cVK7-b7DNR-6vPmLy-4szaXu-4uE49g-bU5fP-pe2zF-EGDpH-5LhUKD-bU5fS-3Gm8d-3eqFT5-EGDpR-byHbx-byHbw-6VKvUB-tsKg9m-byHbu-byHbt-65v3G-7cVK6-fUsro-N3MDKG-5SLB3Z">sea turtle/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because you know it may be tricky to revisit a particular item later on, you are inclined to pick it up when you see it and put it in your big trolley. This ensures that the customer touches the product, which in turn again <a href="http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/suzanne.shu/JCR%2520touch%2520ownership.pdf">generates a psychological sense of ownership over it</a> and decreases the likelihood that it will be put down en route to the tills.</p>
<p>The fact that you can’t see around the next corner also creates a subconscious sense of mystery, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916587191001">which draws the customer gradually further into the store</a>. Environments perceived to be mysterious usually generate an overall stronger liking and so encourage shoppers to keep walking through the store. And the more you do this, the more likely you are to buy something – especially all the smaller items on display such as candles, napkins and picture frames as they seem cheap compared to the larger more expensive items. </p>
<p>Ikea’s creative ability to tap into the unconsciousness of consumers is undoubtedly a big part of its success – and also why it’s been <a href="http://www.digitalistmag.com/customer-experience/2016/04/11/why-apply-ikea-affect-to-your-business-04134971">copied</a> by many other companies. Even though Ingvar Kamprad is no longer with us, Ikea has inherited from him an ethos of thinking outside of the box to communicate with consumers. It will be interesting to see what follows next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90896/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cathrine Jansson-Boyd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ingvar Kamprad’s Ikea revolutionised retail by popularising flat-pack furniture and building maze-like stores.Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, Reader in Consumer Psychology, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/860692017-10-23T10:00:22Z2017-10-23T10:00:22ZHow IKEA used affordable and innovative design to transform the homes of everyday consumers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191185/original/file-20171020-22940-12q60wb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Recognisable to all.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>For decades, IKEA has filled homes across the world with bookcases, beds, cardboard boxes and countless tea lights. The company’s business model, based on huge production runs of identical stock, allowed it to export Scandinavian style at an affordable price. </p>
<p>Its products are so popular and so ubiquitous, that you might find yourself in a friend’s home sitting on a sofa that is very similar to your own, looking at a bookcase that matches yours and eating with very familiar looking cutlery. IKEA created a reasonably priced way for customers to express themselves at home, and while it may also have helped build a world of indentikit interiors, it opened consumers to what was otherwise expensive design. </p>
<p>As a product design specialist I applaud IKEA for how they have developed their business and invested in design to bring great products to the masses, including the use of materials to drive down prices – look inside one of their coffee tables and you’ll find a hollow core supported with card. </p>
<p>IKEA’s trades on the idea of family connections and aims for an emotional connection with customers. Instead of relying on numbers, for example, products are named after Scandinavian islands, names of people, birds and berries.</p>
<p>They continue to innovate in materials and production techniques which drive prices lower and lower. When the first UK store opened in 1987 (the company is celebrating its 30th British birthday) the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/czoh/mm23">cost of a loaf of bread</a> was around 40p, and the classic “Lack” coffee table retailed at £18. Today, three decades on, that same table costs £14.</p>
<p>IKEA are widely considered as the “kings of flat pack furniture”, having cleverly exploited the potential of DIY assembly. Being able to visit a store, pick a wardrobe, chuck the cleverly packaged parts into the boot and drive home proved to a very popular approach, avoiding waiting weeks for delivery and simple – even if the accompanying instructions aren’t always as simple as they look. Social media is <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IKEAarguments?src=hash">full of insights</a> about IKEA-instigated arguments over how to construct furniture (or even just trying to navigate the stores’ pathways). But the company remains <a href="http://www.lansons.com/lego-ikea-bmw-group-top-list-uks-reputable-companies-uk-plcs-lag-way-behind/">highly thought of</a>. </p>
<h2>Scando-chic</h2>
<p>IKEA’s Scandinavian roots and design DNA made it stand out when it arrived in the UK (it was already well established in Germany, France, Japan and Australia). Along with Habitat, IKEA spearheaded a clear departure from chintz and overly decorative furniture and homeware. The new shopping experience of choosing from “rooms” set up with IKEA goods excited customers who came from far and wide to visit the distinctive blue and yellow box-like stores. </p>
<p>IKEA’s range of products has expanded and evolved in the last 30 years but some items like the famous Billy bookcase, continue to sell as they have done for decades. The Billy is a beautifully simple product that can be transformed with hundreds of options, whether you want to change the colours, add doors, or expand the size of your collection.</p>
<p>The popularity of IKEA means so many people have the same furniture, bedding and accessories in their homes. But it also means a lack of individualism in the very places we like to think most reflect our personalities. Nevertheless, some aim to customise: “<a href="http://www.ikeahackers.net/">IKEA hackers</a>” turn colanders into lamps or shelves into headboards, producing unique pieces from mass produced products. </p>
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<h2>Modern design</h2>
<p>IKEA itself has not become lazy or complacent when it comes to design. The <a href="http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/lighting/ceiling-lights/ikea-ps-2014-pendant-lamp-white-turquoise-art-40251119/">PS 2014 pendant lamp</a>, one of their most famous recent additions, is an engineering masterpiece. </p>
<p>Closed, the lamp forms a white sphere with a jigsaw style pattern. But with the simple pull of a string the sphere opens, revealing its interior copper colour and increasing the brightness of the light emitted. It works beautifully and offers a great user experience. It is something to show off, and a real talking point.</p>
<p>Other <a href="https://www.houseandhome.ie/news-events/sneak-peek-hay-x-ikea-ypperlig-range-landing-stores-october-20206">parts of its range</a> demonstrate great Scandinavian design at a much higher price point. </p>
<p>In my own home, I have a Malm bed, assorted cushions, candles, bedding and cutlery – simple, stylish and good quality. And they didn’t cost the earth. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t own at least one IKEA product. From its humble and fitting beginnings on a kitchen table in Sweden in 1943, IKEA has transformed the modern design world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Lewis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The company has made the world flat (packed).Dan Lewis, Course Leader, Product and Transport Design, Staffordshire UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/835682017-09-14T19:34:55Z2017-09-14T19:34:55ZPeople-friendly furniture in public places matters more than ever in today’s city<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185452/original/file-20170911-28497-hubvwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cities and their residents' needs in public space have changed, but the type and function of the furniture are stuck in the past.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-city-september-03-people-235965100?src=dQWi6EDRF5cc1piok1657A-1-20">Carlos Neto/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/city-planning-suffers-growth-pains-of-australias-population-boom-75930">Increasing urbanisation</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/equitable-density-42055">denser city living</a>, more expensive <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-17/housing-market-powder-keg-could-blow-with-rate-rises/8714674">apartment prices</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/two-pictures-of-rental-housing-stress-and-vulnerability-zero-in-on-areas-of-need-77714">higher rents</a> are reshaping our access to and use of urban space. Room-sharing websites are one sign that the cost of city living is driving people to consider sharing rooms with strangers out of necessity. Those flats are not homes anymore.</p>
<p>If people can’t spend time in their flat – because it is too crowded, too noisy or not safe enough – they end up spending more time in public spaces like libraries or quasi-public spaces like gaming arcades or shopping malls. Dutch <a href="http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2000/announcement">Prizker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas</a> calls this <a href="http://garagemca.org/en/publishing/rem-koolhaas-junkspace">Junkspace</a>. Or they are spending time in the street, plazas and parks. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/contested-spaces-living-off-the-edge-in-a-city-mall-where-design-fuels-conflict-72351">Contested spaces: living off the edge in a city mall where design fuels conflict</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>How does the city cater for people in these places? Imagine a home furnished with the kind of furniture we typically see on the street. Would it feel comfy?</p>
<p>Generally the design of this kind of public furniture has a strictly defined scope. It has to be vandal-resistant, easy to install, require little to no maintenance, not encourage littering, tie in with the style of the precinct, etc. </p>
<p>Public furniture also has an established typology – benches and seats mainly. This restricts what we can do in public (sit down with a straight back, we can’t lounge). These are part of the design considerations to provide a bench for people to sit on. </p>
<h2>What if we want to do more than just sit?</h2>
<p>The spacing, positioning and location of furniture in public space play a big part in deciding what I can look at, with whom, for how long and how I’ll feel while sitting there. </p>
<p>But what if I want to do more then just sit there? Where, for instance, do I plug in my phone or laptop to recharge? </p>
<p>It is also not easy to wash my hands in a public space. For example, I’ve sat down and eaten an orange on a bench, my hands are sticky and I’d like to wash them. Perhaps I’ve also taken off my coat while sitting there. What now? </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185566/original/file-20170911-1368-1o9ehj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185566/original/file-20170911-1368-1o9ehj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185566/original/file-20170911-1368-1o9ehj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185566/original/file-20170911-1368-1o9ehj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185566/original/file-20170911-1368-1o9ehj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185566/original/file-20170911-1368-1o9ehj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185566/original/file-20170911-1368-1o9ehj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185566/original/file-20170911-1368-1o9ehj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Why don’t public toilets give you anywhere to put what you’re carrying other than the toilet floor?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/public-restroom-center-city-62874775?src=GSGZl-V-KmLvIV5f97VHPw-1-14">Henryk Sadura/shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>I’ve got to seek out the nearest public toilet and use the hand basin, but where to put all my other belongings while doing that? On the toilet floor? </p>
<p>A basic human right is access to water and utility services. We need to provide this access in the public sphere, and not just in commercial environments like coffee shops. </p>
<p>Filling up a water bottle is not easy, buying water is – if you can afford it. This is not an equitable solution. It adds to the already significant financial burden of paying high rents and city living.</p>
<h2>Think about how design can expand our options</h2>
<p>While we have furniture for the street, the street, parks and plazas lack other services. Design embeds a narrow social script in the current range of street furniture. The design of new public furnishings needs to adapt and offer citizens a wider, more diverse range of options for being in the city. </p>
<p>For example, people should have access to facilities to carry out basic healthy living practices, such as washing hands. They also need access to power – perhaps even a facility to heat up food, like a home-made lunch, or a pre-prepared meal from the supermarket. </p>
<p>Furnishing a public space with such new public appliances could transform it, soften it, bring familiarity, comfort and a sense of domesticity to it; a public backyard. The opportunities for a smart city are not just large-scale infrastructure, public transport and traffic monitoring, but also exist at a finer-grained level.</p>
<p>These new kind of street furnishings can be made available to users via a contemporary, digital version of the old <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_gate">city gate</a>. It can require them to log in or authorise them to use equipment via a unique identifier. We already practise this on e-commerce and sharing economy websites.</p>
<p>This new kind of public street furniture can have sensors embedded that monitor and <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-adelaide-in-how-a-smart-city-can-work-to-benefit-everyone-81824">respond in real time</a> to their use. Interactive furniture can be part of a larger dedicated data system. It can inform relevant authorities if the power point is drawing excessive power, or if the noise level at this power point is too loud for the time of day and, in response, turn off the lights and the power. </p>
<p>Parameters can be tested and the calibration of use and user patterns can be explored in line with neighbourhood expectations. The system can then autonomously react to the data gathered.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-adelaide-in-how-a-smart-city-can-work-to-benefit-everyone-81824">Lessons from Adelaide in how a smart city can work to benefit everyone</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Street furniture can be reconceived as connected and interactive appliances. These would then provide a gateway that gives people access to everyday utilities. And, by doing so, these new facilities could provide quasi-domestic-style amenity in the public realm, making the city a more equitable and welcoming place for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Tietz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With cities becoming more dense and housing more crowded, people rely more than ever on well-designed public spaces, so why hasn’t the furniture changed with the times?Christian Tietz, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/775592017-05-23T06:33:16Z2017-05-23T06:33:16ZThe ‘digital handmade’: how 3D printing became a new craft technology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170243/original/file-20170521-12257-dxltwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">3D printing can be a powerful tool for designers and artists.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/head-3d-printer-action-212295607?src=GPL-Jl_Y8_FM-hXltk4zcw-1-11">www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For many people, craft is wooden chairs and pottery, all lovingly constructed by hand. A 3D-printed plastic object? Not so much.</p>
<p>The work of Australian designer Berto Pandolfo, shown in a new <a href="http://chippendalecreative.com/exhibitions/berto-pandolfo/">exhibition</a> at Kensington Contemporary in Sydney, upends that rule. His sidetables demonstrate that digital fabrication techniques like 3D printing offer new possibilities for design practitioners with a craft ethos.</p>
<p>By using new technology to enrich rather than substitute traditional techniques, he is part of a movement that the writer Lucy Johnston has termed <a href="http://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/books/digital-handmade-craftsmanship-and-the-new-industrial-revolution-hardcover">“the digital handmade”</a> – designers that use emerging digital techniques to create desirable objects.</p>
<p>Craft is a contested term, especially in an era where machines have taken the place of work previously done by hand. Broadly, it’s an approach guided by tradition, sensitivity to materials and manual techniques. Pandolfo’s show explores the place of 3D printing within such a practice. The result is objects that feel distinctive rather than mass manufactured, despite their online origins.</p>
<p>3D printing, more accurately referred to as <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214860414000104">additive manufacturing</a>, creates objects by depositing material layer-by-layer. For furniture design in particular this is a radical shift away from traditional methods of material subtracting (think of carving) as well as forming and joining. Referred to as the third industrial revolution by technology writers such as <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21552901">Paul Markillie</a>, additive manufacturing was first used as a tool to construct prototypes directly from computer-generated models.</p>
<p>Some 3D printing techniques are favoured by industrial designers on a mass scale. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E5MfBAV_tA&t=5s">Selective laser sintering</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgQvqVq-SQU">direct metal laser sintering</a>, for example, are two relatively expensive processes that have proven <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00170-011-3878-1?LI=true">particularly useful</a> in the biomedical and aerospace industries. </p>
<p>Processes such as <a href="https://medium.com/@enggtechnique/fused-deposition-modeling-fdm-3d-printing-technology-9154f637c269">fused deposition modelling</a>, on the other hand, are more affordable and more accessible to designers working on one-off objects like Pandolfo. Desktop 3D printers such as CraftUnique’s <a href="https://craftunique.com/category/craftbot-plus-3d-printer">CraftBot PLUS</a> cost a little over US$1,000.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">An animated video of the fused deposition modelling process.</span></figcaption>
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<p>For his exhibition, entitled MND, Pandolfo has produced a series of side tables, using fused deposition modelling to create the legs. Inspired by river stones, the legs contrast with the smooth finish of the body of the table, made by hand from kauri pine. Typically rough textures are associated with wood. In this instance, however, the wood is smooth and uniform, and the plastic is rough and irregular.</p>
<p>The 3D printing process typically produces a rough, lumpy or striped surface finish, which is often sanded down. Pandolfo decided not to, giving the side tables the markings of imperfection often associated with handmade objects. </p>
<p>He also chose the river stone form rather than a side table’s conventional turned wooden legs, in order to exploit the capacity of additive manufacturing for creating forms of <a href="https://www.designsociety.org/publication/39025/from_prototype_to_production_using_plastic_3d_printed_parts_in_furniture">subtle irregularity</a>. Rather than being regarded as incidental or antagonistic to the finished product, the surface imperfections typical of the fused deposition modelling process have been used as an opportunity. </p>
<p>Pandolfo’s work fits within the “digital handmade” movement because he has taken the technological limitations of 3D printing as a creative opportunity.</p>
<p>In fact, the marriage of 3D printing and craft represents a return to a pre-industrial values where creative intelligence and skill in making went together. </p>
<p>As Johnston suggests <a href="http://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/books/digital-handmade-craftsmanship-and-the-new-industrial-revolution-hardcover">in her book</a>, the industrial revolution “resulted in a diminished role for the craftsman”. Skill and imagination were removed from mass manufacture as machines and the factory line dominated the production process. The creativity once associated with handmade objects and craft became more exclusively associated with the fine arts. </p>
<p>Pandolfo’s deliberate exploration of new materials, technology and form demonstrate a blending of these supposedly contrasting virtues. </p>
<p>The broader value of this work is in demonstrating how technological hardware, such as 3D printing, need not be relegated to mass industry. Designers and handcrafters can also claim it, ensuring new meaning can emerge from our machines.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77559/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Lee is currently working with Berto Pandolfo in a research program at UTS looking at innovative solutions for the design and manufacture of objects in the context of small batch production. </span></em></p>The work of Australian designer Berto Pandolfo shows how 3D printing can be claimed as a craft technology.Tom Lee, Lecturer, Faculty of Design and Architecture Building, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/444952015-07-17T10:17:28Z2015-07-17T10:17:28ZLet children move around, stand or walk in the classroom. You’ll see the difference<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88408/original/image-20150714-21728-1h1hmq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why not let children stand and study?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/youbelonginlongmont/6955979583/in/photolist-bAFdot-bnLmrq-bnLhQW-qPZ9sD-qPZ9yv-qMGdu3-pTd5JZ-qPZ9xt-5b1NrV-tzbZYW-7QrxNC-5dsFUh-pXDMMV-61JGsc-dKTqiH-cDnEHW-oe5trh-pSZ7QE-qPZ9CD-qPUMjm-qPZ9Dv-qPZ9Gg-yQMEo-4J66tt-uw4cA1-qhJqVh-PgUqD-4QxVoG-at1Xmm-9ddrSa-89FwtD-br86US-6r39hb-92Rfvg-amMNGj-a5oF29-auPEkS-cwKZdo-bpZvVo-7qvHBL-7x2qL3-atB2VY-b73L1g-asH8ZA-5iPrjZ-tgVtg-52gJdC-9ueG3v-8Z4p83-hfh4wG">You Belong In Longmont</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The question of <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidsturt/2015/01/13/is-sitting-the-new-smoking/">“is sitting the next smoking”</a> has been raised by many health experts in the past few months. <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/release23/en/">Many ailments</a>, including diabetes and heart disease, are known to be connected to an inactive lifestyle.</p>
<p>However, most of this attention has been focused on adult office workers and the negative health impact of sitting at work all day. </p>
<p>But, if our waistlines and even our longevity are connected to how active we are each day, is it not important to teach our children how to be more active, from an early age?</p>
<p>During the past few years, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2015.1058093">many</a> <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/278732994_Reducing_children's_classroom_sitting_time_using_sit-to-stand_desks_findings_from_pilot_studies_in_UK_and_Australian_primary_schools">researchers</a> <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23103223">around</a> the world have been <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21421945">evaluating</a> the <a href="http://www.academia.edu/13751659/Choice_and_Voice_Teacher_and_Student_Perspectives_of_the_Use_of_Standing_Desks_in_a_Secondary_Classroom">use</a> of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15288906">standing</a> height desks instead of the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22836531">more traditional</a> seated desks in school classrooms. </p>
<p>As director of the Ergonomics Center at the Texas A&M Health Science Center, I am constantly in corporate offices, K–12 classrooms and graduate classrooms where I teach. I also research better methods of classroom management and academic performance via health interventions. Ten years ago, while focusing primarily on adult office workers and the loss of non-exercise, physical movement in a work day, I wrote a book on the topic, <a href="https://thebackschool.net/store/products/suggested-reading/could-you-stand-to-lose-second-edition/">Could You Stand to Lose</a>?</p>
<h2>Standing in classrooms</h2>
<p>The idea came as we explored younger office workers’ health and noticed a lack of important postural habits, poor core strength and larger waistlines than what the older generations displayed when they entered the workforce. </p>
<p>It was at that time that we realized if we were going to affect the health of office workers, we would need to start much younger. Standing became a simple proxy for what we really need – more low-intensity, whole-body movement! </p>
<p>We asked, could we perform the same work while standing at a desk rather than always sitting at it? And we realized this type of change was possible. </p>
<p>We then turned our attention to adolescent health in classroom settings. </p>
<p>My team’s research in schools began in 2008, when we first looked at classroom movement as a way to deal with the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm">growing number</a> of obese children. In the past 30 years, obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents.</p>
<p>So, in 2008 we began installing and testing stand-biased desks for K–4 students to allow upright movement during instruction and self-work. </p>
<p>We started this work in College Station, Texas with elementary students to avoid the difficulty of measuring the Body Mass Index (BMI) in children experiencing puberty. During those years, the BMI fluctuates so rapidly that it is tough to follow an intervention. </p>
<h2>Encouraging movement</h2>
<p>From a few classrooms in one school to dozens of classrooms spread over many schools, we continuously upgraded our sample size and research methods. Over the past seven years, we have placed several thousand students at standing desks for our studies in both elementary and high school. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88690/original/image-20150716-5108-nbuaiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88690/original/image-20150716-5108-nbuaiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88690/original/image-20150716-5108-nbuaiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88690/original/image-20150716-5108-nbuaiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88690/original/image-20150716-5108-nbuaiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88690/original/image-20150716-5108-nbuaiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88690/original/image-20150716-5108-nbuaiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Standing desks encourage movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/traffas/5619585646/in/photolist-9yzR2G-96PdKX-28jFN6-9hHpjg-egnPHK-5BmVWa-5BmqW8-eHxpq-9YQAyw-9YMGon-5BmW2X-9Wydai-65jcRz-qELRuT-91GpNY-8k1Ts1-eb3gXy-i6ycVY-9D3AFF-b2KyeM-fDKqKu-833tVt-69Y1V1-c2Z2mq-4s3WXA-9YQBAC-9YQBNW-a6Rv9-8xNBB5-4tNyE-9YMFoZ-9YMEVD-9YMFjD-9YQz1C-7aJgCx-7BLEJA-6vfV8p-4wuANX-ddyTuo-ddyS9Z-ddyTCU-ddyS7t-ddyTr7-5PV4Ny-7JJoKs-5VNaUZ-6jund9-7b29pF-dG573-bov2cY">aarontraffas</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Stand-biased desks allow students to sit (on a stool) or stand at will.</p>
<p>However, these products were a nonexistent category for mainstream school furniture vendors. So, we had to create our own designs based on teacher and student feedback. The market is now beginning to evolve worldwide as others weigh in with creative approaches such as standing tables for multiple students.</p>
<p>Classrooms with stand-biased desks are part of what we began to call an <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/9/9361">Activity Permissive Learning Environment (APLE)</a>, which means that teachers don’t tell children to “sit down,” “sit still,” or “don’t move around” during class.</p>
<p>Instead, they encourage movement such as standing, rocking, fidgeting and walking. Most traditional classrooms are lecture-style, with an instructor up front and students dealing with poorly fitting, hard plastic chairs for 80%–90% of their day.</p>
<h2>Impact of a standing desk</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/9/9361">Research</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00889">shows</a> that our bodies are so connected to our minds that our ability to focus on difficult cognitive tasks is directly linked to adequate physical activity.</p>
<p>In short, an active mind requires an active body.</p>
<p>Children become more restless and distracted with prolonged sitting. Active workstations <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22836531">reduce</a> disruptive behavior problems and increase students’ attention by providing them with a different method for completing academic tasks and breaking up the monotony of seated work. Students were less distracted while working at a standing desk. </p>
<p>This was not all: the activity also led to more burned calories. After two years of exposure to activity-permissive learning environments, students showed decreases in <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about_childrens_bmi.html#percentile">Body Mass Index percentiles</a>.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22836531">own research</a> shows that students K–12 given a stand-biased desk burned 15%–25% more calories than their peers in traditional seated desks.</p>
<p>As a result of these encouraging health numbers, we turned our attention to student comfort and posture. Again, we <a href="http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=35796#.VahC3RNVikp">observed improvements</a>
on both measures over traditional seated furniture. </p>
<p>In addition to increasing energy expenditure, we now see that activity-permissive learning environments help to reduce disruptive behavior and increase students’ academic potential. Based on the number of parents contacting us for help with students doing homework, it appears the process can work as well at home as in school. </p>
<h2>Future of classroom design</h2>
<p>The success of stand-biased desks is nothing new. </p>
<p>Benjamin Franklin had a patent on a standing school desk over 200 years ago, and Thomas Jefferson worked at one that he designed himself. Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Napoleon Bonaparte and even Donald Rumsfeld <a href="http://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/07/05/become-a-stand-up-guy-the-history-benefits-and-use-of-standing-desks/">have all worked</a> at standing desks to create some of their most memorable work. </p>
<p>Although <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=16PSBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA379&lpg=PA379&dq=us+worker+sedentary+time&source=bl&ots=FIkuZKAi9m&sig=HtBkqLIBuSajrNamYLvSctq7GcU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CF0Q6AEwB2oVChMI0dPc55nexgIVAy6ICh2BUgE2#v=onepage&q=us%20worker%20sedentary%20time&f=false">research and history</a> have shown that stand-biased desks have many favorable effects, most Western workers and students are still engaged in seated desk work for the majority of their day. </p>
<p>Our work in schools with thousands of K–12 students has included looking at stand-biased desks, exercise balls, several types of wobble stools and even swinging footrests and treadmills. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/278732994_Reducing_children's_classroom_sitting_time_using_sit-to-stand_desks_findings_from_pilot_studies_in_UK_and_Australian_primary_schools">Many</a> <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09613218.2015.1058093?journalCode=rbri20">other</a> <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23103223">researchers</a> around the world have also been examining the use of classroom design to alter physical activity patterns, with leadership coming from Australia, New Zealand and England. </p>
<p>Teachers around the globe want better classroom management, better student engagement and, ultimately, improved learning.</p>
<p>New approaches for addressing physical inactivity that are in harmony with children’s natural habits, tendencies and engagement could be the way to go.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44495/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Benden consults for several furniture related corporations and owns shares in the faculty led startup company, PositiveMotion LLC, He has multiple US Patents for furniture items and thru his job at Texas A&M has licensed several inventions to furniture companies. He received research funding from the CDC and the NIH for research mentioned in the article.</span></em></p>Aren’t there huge health benefits to staying physically active, for adults? Why should it be any different for children?Mark Benden, Associate Professor & Director of the Ergonomics Center, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/321932014-10-01T05:33:04Z2014-10-01T05:33:04ZNew UK copyright law will do nothing to help young designers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60421/original/334gf7ds-1412084837.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If you have an empty home, you'd better fill it soon. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sergey Peterman/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You probably don’t think much about the derivation of that lovely shelving in your living room, or that sleek, stylish lamp. But many of them will be copies of designs from the 20s, 60s, 80s. And despite the fact that many of their designers are dead, the cheap reproduction of them is soon to be outlawed in the UK.</p>
<p>Last year the UK Government introduced the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA), which included <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/24/section/74/enacted">a provision</a> intended to extend the protections of copyright law to mass-produced artistic works, which includes things like chairs, lamps and sofas. This means that these sorts of design objects will enjoy extremely broad protection from copying for “the life of the creator plus 70 years”, a period which usually averages out around 120 years from the date of creation. Before this, industrial designs were covered by laws that protected these objects for 25 years.</p>
<p>The beneficiaries of what is effectively a 90+ year extension — a range of name brand designers like <a href="http://www.tomdixon.net/uk/">Tom Dixon</a>, <a href="http://barberosgerby.com/">Edward Barber and Jay Ogersby</a>, retailer-magnate <a href="http://www.conran.com/">Sir Terence Conran</a>, and the CEOs of high-end furniture manufacturers like <a href="http://www.vitra.com">Vitra</a> and <a href="http://www.flos.com/en/home">Flos</a> – were understandably delighted at the prospect of stamping out the scourge of low-rent replicas of modernist design. </p>
<p>The reasons for this are not as self evident as you would think. It’s not so much that if you or I can’t buy a <a href="http://www.vita-interiors.com/side-tables/eileen-gray-style-side-table.htm">£100 replica Eileen Gray side table</a> we’ll buy the <a href="http://www.aram.co.uk/tables/low-side-tables/e1027-adjustable-table.html">licensed version for £500</a>. It’s more that the ubiquitous presence of so many knockoffs reduces the desirability and status value of the licensed version.</p>
<h2>Slowing things down</h2>
<p>However, the government has recently announced a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/353373/Consultation_on_timing_of_repeal_of_section_52_CDPA.pdf">consultation process</a> aimed at assessing the effect of the ERRA and proposed a phase-in of this change in the law. Over the next few weeks, they will accept responses to various aspects of the implementation of the law, including a proposed three-year period for the phase-in, in order to balance the interests of both the high end and low end purveyors.</p>
<p>Understandably, the industry figures are crying foul and high-end design brands like Vitra, Artek and Flos have formed a coalition to lobby the government and ensure that ordinary consumers can’t get access to designs that will be brought back into their exclusive control under the new law. The spokesman for this group, the managing director of the high end manufacturer Vitra, has suggested that the government’s delay has made the UK “<a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2014/09/22/design-brands-vitra-artek-flos-attack-uk-government-over-copyright-law-delay">a laughing stock</a>”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60438/original/6pr9k5pk-1412090903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60438/original/6pr9k5pk-1412090903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60438/original/6pr9k5pk-1412090903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60438/original/6pr9k5pk-1412090903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60438/original/6pr9k5pk-1412090903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60438/original/6pr9k5pk-1412090903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60438/original/6pr9k5pk-1412090903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just one of the designs you’ll no longer be able to get cheaply.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickwade/4135844772">nickwade</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Naked self interest</h2>
<p>Well-funded lobbyists and self-interested designers make it seem like they have the interests of the UK consumer at heart. Back when the act was being mooted, Mark Adams, of the furniture manufacturer Vitsoe, <a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2012/05/23/uk-copyright-law-changed-to-protect-design-classics/">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The copying of furniture is out of hand and, ultimately, it is the customer who loses out. Vitsoe would be able to support and service its long-term customers much better if its market position was not constantly being eroded by products that copy the look (of its shelving system) but fail to give the high product quality and careful service which genuinely allow customers to live better, with less, that lasts longer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Statements like these are disingenuous. The new act promises to give high-end manufacturers more or less complete monopoly over iconic designs like <a href="https://www.vitsoe.com/gb/606">Dieter Rams’s 606 shelving system</a> or <a href="http://www.heals.co.uk/lamps/flos-arco-silver-floor-light-by-achille-castiglioni/invt/611367">Achille Castiglioni’s Arco lamp</a>. Both of these were designed in the 1960s and under the old law were free for others to reproduce without cost. But no longer. The new act creates a monopoly that will significantly reduce consumer choice and drive prices up. The government estimates that replicas of such well-known designs sell for around one-seventh of the price of the licensed versions. But after the implementation of the new law there won’t be any stores selling you cheap-and-cheerful versions of these designs. </p>
<p>These designs were produced at a time when there was no copyright in them. Their designers did not need copyright to ensure they would be produced. And, most of these iconic designers are dead anyway, so aren’t going to see a penny from this newly granted monopoly.</p>
<p>Perhaps the worst part of this change is that struggling British designers think that it will help them. It won’t. Copyright always favours the wealthy few creators and the commercial producers of their work. What this act does is reduce competition and access to good design at a reasonable price – and provide a big payday to a small number of people. </p>
<p>It’s just another example of the rampant expansion of the reach of intellectual property rights, driven by the interests of big business.</p>
<p>There is, unfortunately, little chance that the government will repeal the relevant section of the ERRA. It’s committed to expanding the reach of intellectual property: earlier this year it introduced a new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-act-strengthens-intellectual-property-rights-for-uk-businesses">Intellectual Property Act 2014</a>, which made the system even more draconian and included a provision making design infringement a criminal act.</p>
<p>The best that we can hope for now is a reasonably long changeover period to allow the high street retailers to sell off their replica stock. And, of course, for you to pick up a decent version of <a href="http://www.knoll.com/product/barcelona-chair">Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair</a> at a reasonable price. Get it before it’s gone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Hunter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>You probably don’t think much about the derivation of that lovely shelving in your living room, or that sleek, stylish lamp. But many of them will be copies of designs from the 20s, 60s, 80s. And despite…Dan Hunter, Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/315682014-09-11T06:50:44Z2014-09-11T06:50:44ZAre you sitting comfortably? Why good furniture helps sustainability<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58767/original/96yxtyg7-1410410099.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The link between furniture and contentment has far-reaching effects. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kathrin & Stefan Marks</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair of 1925 the formula for comfortable seating has been known: create a right-angle, open it up a tad, and tip it backward, so that the seat places the bottom lower than the knees. Your weight is thrown back into the angle and your thighs lock your back firmly into the backrest.</p>
<p>Too few armchairs and fewer couches have adopted this simple template, which keeps you comfortable for hours, even though <a href="https://theconversation.com/health-check-sitting-versus-standing-30145">it’s been argued</a> that all chairs are bad for you. You’re much likelier to find Breuer’s reliable comfy formula in somebody’s car than in his or her home. Instead, even in an age of ergonomics, fashion has generated an endless supply of sleek flat-bottomed chairs and couches that you slip out of.</p>
<p>If you don’t have a resented example at home, open your junk mail. An IKEA catalogue will do. Check out Stockholm, Skogaby, Karlstad and Ekerö (before going to sofa-bed hybrids such as Nockeby, Hagalund, Moheda, Knopparp, Friheten). IKEA is far from the worst, because at least it produces Poäng and the exemplary <a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=villstad+chair+ikea&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=9B8RVNnnH9SKuATh4oDwBQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=2175&bih=1124#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=mb1lgSBpNdTogM%253A%3B2zfq5vEUAU3AiM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ikea.com%252Fie%252Fen%252Fimages%252Fproducts%252Fvillstad-easy-chair__0195921_PE352089_S4.JPG%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ikea.com%252Fie%252Fen%252Fcatalog%252Fproducts%252F90239605%252F%3B500%3B500">Villstad</a>, which follow the tilted formula for comfort.</p>
<p>If it were only a pain in the back, the perverse box-configurations of contemporary seating furniture might not be so bad. But in my mind, the snazzy designs that now flood the market have a negative effect on contentment, which in turn has a powerful influence on lifestyle and hence patterns of consumption.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58755/original/5k8vcz34-1410407987.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58755/original/5k8vcz34-1410407987.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58755/original/5k8vcz34-1410407987.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58755/original/5k8vcz34-1410407987.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58755/original/5k8vcz34-1410407987.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58755/original/5k8vcz34-1410407987.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58755/original/5k8vcz34-1410407987.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58755/original/5k8vcz34-1410407987.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Benjamin Coleman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We normally speak of the ecological impact of furniture in relation to materials and assembly: are the components recycled or reusable and how much energy or sacrifice of animals is needed for their manufacture? But furniture has a much greater impact on global emissions if you consider that it also conditions the way we lead our lives.</p>
<p>It is difficult to calibrate and prove but I begin with the assumption that the energy that we consume in goods and services (especially services of mobility) is inversely proportional to our contentment as individuals. If we lead a rich domestic and imaginary life, we are less inclined to dissatisfaction, and to make up for it by restless or greedy patterns of consumerism and travel, with their terrible environmental consequences.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58757/original/tq6jkk22-1410408364.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58757/original/tq6jkk22-1410408364.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58757/original/tq6jkk22-1410408364.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58757/original/tq6jkk22-1410408364.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58757/original/tq6jkk22-1410408364.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58757/original/tq6jkk22-1410408364.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58757/original/tq6jkk22-1410408364.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58757/original/tq6jkk22-1410408364.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">IKEA’s Poäng chair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">protoflux</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To lessen our dependence on travel for psychological wellbeing requires other things to fill the void: conversation, reading, music, walking and so on. Having a poetic relationship with your immediate surroundings is one of the elements that makes for contentment and hence sustainability.</p>
<p>It seems unlikely that the character of our interiors would not have an effect on our contentedness. Just think of bald apartments, digs and hotel rooms that you’ve stayed in, where no item resonates with anything in your experience. The prospect of reading a book in the room seems unappealing. You have to get out. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58758/original/wvkyyks2-1410408750.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58758/original/wvkyyks2-1410408750.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58758/original/wvkyyks2-1410408750.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58758/original/wvkyyks2-1410408750.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58758/original/wvkyyks2-1410408750.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58758/original/wvkyyks2-1410408750.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58758/original/wvkyyks2-1410408750.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58758/original/wvkyyks2-1410408750.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Uncomfortable much?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Berry</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The argument is not that an evocative interior will magically make you immune from travel temptation. You ought to be dissuaded from travel by ecological arguments. But as you absorb the pointed cue that environmentalists have told you for decades, you might well look around for aspects of your domestic life that make it easier to follow. </p>
<p>What will make you more contented? What atmospheric appointments make our domestic environments a haven that we want to repair to rather that a place to escape from? </p>
<p>In some categories, such as chairs and couches, furniture has a direct impact on our comfort. But all pieces of furniture, even shelves or wardrobes, are capable of either contributing to our contentment or not. The difference is not necessarily how well the pieces serve us physically – though that is important – but how their function serves us imaginatively, to the point that we relish contemplating their presence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58770/original/6yc257hr-1410410642.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58770/original/6yc257hr-1410410642.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58770/original/6yc257hr-1410410642.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58770/original/6yc257hr-1410410642.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58770/original/6yc257hr-1410410642.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58770/original/6yc257hr-1410410642.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58770/original/6yc257hr-1410410642.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58770/original/6yc257hr-1410410642.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ani-Bee</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The stylish chairs and couches with flat or near flat bottoms are uncomfortable for the same reason that they don’t reward contemplation. Their form aspires to abstraction. They figuratively and metaphorically throw you off. They don’t tell stories and aren’t the repository of long traditions. The abstract language of form may have an ancestry in modernist design but the geometric exclusivity that it aspires to refuses to be a vessel for associations or narrative.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58768/original/m885hzfn-1410410351.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58768/original/m885hzfn-1410410351.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58768/original/m885hzfn-1410410351.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58768/original/m885hzfn-1410410351.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58768/original/m885hzfn-1410410351.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58768/original/m885hzfn-1410410351.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58768/original/m885hzfn-1410410351.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58768/original/m885hzfn-1410410351.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rennie Mackintosh chair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Universal Pops</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Furniture that gives you a toehold on its history and function acts like company: you have a historical interlocutor in the room who reminds you of the growth of conversation, etiquette, dedicated rooms, electric lighting, erotic ritual, reading, gastronomy, music and storage. </p>
<p>The quality and date of the furniture are less important than the imagination that you bring to it. Furniture from an expensive shop may have no greater enticements to rapture than furniture from an op shop. But nor is new furniture excluded, just as second-hand furniture is not necessarily more resonant just by its vintage.</p>
<p>The key criterion in identifying what makes furniture yield contentment is poetic. Is the furniture suggestive? Does it propose a symbolic life or does it recede semantically behind its own formalism, like Schiavello’s <a href="http://www.motiqonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Contemporary-Orange-Sofas-by-Schiavello.jpg">Kayt Lounge</a>? </p>
<p>The link between furniture and contentment, and then contentment and sustainability, is the subject of <a href="http://www.craft.org.au/Learn/Craft_Culture/robert-nelson/">my new book</a>, Instruments of contentment: furniture and poetic sustainability, available as a free download from Craft Victoria.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58760/original/q7z7nn99-1410409085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58760/original/q7z7nn99-1410409085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58760/original/q7z7nn99-1410409085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58760/original/q7z7nn99-1410409085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58760/original/q7z7nn99-1410409085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58760/original/q7z7nn99-1410409085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58760/original/q7z7nn99-1410409085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58760/original/q7z7nn99-1410409085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D@LY3D</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Furniture is only one category of craft and design that yields contentment by poetic means. The long tradition of craft has generated any number of counterparts in tableware, ceramic, glass and metal that provide similar cues to aesthetic wonder. Any jug or glass or platter can potentially resonate with ancient pitchers, goblets or chargers. </p>
<p>By pondering their design, construction and function, you’re poetically brought into contact with beliefs, rituals and mores that are also explicated, say, by the formidable collection of decorative arts in the National Gallery of Victoria.</p>
<p>Arguably, however, furniture plays a key role in the management of your life and mobile assets: it keeps your shirts and papers in place as much as your bottom, allowing you to organise your spaces by your ideal domestic vision. </p>
<p>Without contact and sympathetic insight into this realm – a world that is either inflected and reassuring or abstract and desolate – sustainability will be harder to reach in our daily lives and impossible to achieve for the planet.</p>
<p><br>
<strong>See also:</strong><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unseating-the-chair-26137">Unseating the chair</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Nelson is the author of Instruments of contentment: furniture and poetic sustainability.</span></em></p>Since Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair of 1925 the formula for comfortable seating has been known: create a right-angle, open it up a tad, and tip it backward, so that the seat places the bottom lower than…Robert Nelson, Associate Director Student Experience, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/62552012-04-04T04:17:04Z2012-04-04T04:17:04ZWho suffers when retailers exercise their market muscle?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9287/original/3597n4fr-1333505356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C8%2C1919%2C1284&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is the "waterbed effect" - where manufacturers attempt to recoup discounts given to large retailers by raising prices for smaller competitors - an issue in Australia?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When a major retailer uses its countervailing power (or “market muscle”) to negotiate better terms from suppliers, should policy makers be concerned?</p>
<p>In Australia, the debate has focused on dairy farmers in the case of milk and the multinational manufacturers for other products. But to an economist this focus is misplaced. Basic economics tells us that if retailers sell more of an agricultural product (like milk) then farmers will be better off. And it is difficult to see why Australian consumers should be concerned about lower profits for multinational manufacturers like Nestle.</p>
<p>In contrast, the debate in Europe and <a href="http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/our-work/directory-of-all-inquiries/groceries-market-investigation-and-remittal/final-report-and-appendices-glossary-inquiry">the UK</a>, has focused on the potential damage to other retailers and their customers. Can the discounts negotiated by Woolworths, Bunnings or other large retailers rebound on smaller retailers who lack bargaining power? Will suppliers try to ‘recover’ the profit that they lose when they are forced to reduce prices to large retailers by raising prices to smaller competitors, such as independent hardware retailers and convenience stores?
This situation - where lower wholesale prices to large retailers with countervailing power lead to higher wholesale prices for other retailers - is called “the waterbed effect”.</p>
<p>The standard logic behind the waterbed effect is clearly wrong. It makes no sense for a manufacturer to try and recover a discount that it gives one retailer by naively raising prices to other smaller retailers. Such an approach will simply bankrupt the small retailers and make the manufacturer even more reliant on the big retailers. </p>
<p>A waterbed effect, however, can occur. Recent research, both in Europe and Australia, highlights the key characteristics of the manufacturing-retailing chain that can lead to a waterbed effect. </p>
<p>First, a waterbed effect is more likely if upstream suppliers are capacity constrained. If such a supplier sells more of its product to a powerful retailer, there will be less for all other retailers. This will give the supplier a strong incentive to raise the price to those other retailers. However, this doesn’t depend on the retailers being competitors. So a big retailer in one market that uses its countervailing power may cause supply prices to rise for retailers in different markets. </p>
<p>Second, a waterbed effect may arise if customers are mobile and easily shift between retailers. If the large retailer passes on some of its discounted supply price to its customers, then it will increase its retail market share. The smaller retailers will lose market share, undermining their ability to negotiate with suppliers. The more customers are attracted by the big retailer’s lower prices, the more the bargaining power of smaller retailers is eroded.</p>
<p>Third, however, competition can also act against any waterbed effect. As noted above, if the big retailer and smaller retailers are close competitors, any discount to the big retailer weakens the smaller retailers. The supplier will have an incentive to lower the price to these small retailers, both to maximize its own profits and to avoid becoming too reliant on the large retailer. </p>
<p>Finally, changes in input prices can change retail strategy. Faced with a large competitor who buys cheaply at wholesale and discounts at retail, a small retailer may need to rethink its strategy. It may reposition to a market niche, for example, just focusing on convenience customers. Alternatively, it may seek to merge with some of its small competitors to increase their combined market muscle. These strategic changes will feed back into wholesale prices. However, whether wholesale prices rise or fall for the smaller retailers will depend on which strategy they adopt.</p>
<p>So should policy makers be worried about a waterbed effect? If a large retailer negotiates lower wholesale prices and this results in higher supply prices to smaller retailers, then the small retailers and their loyal customers will be worse off. But policy makers need to look carefully at the relevant industry to see whether or not a waterbed effect is likely. For example, if the relevant manufacturers have excess capacity then a waterbed effect is less likely. If retailers are in close competition and any wholesale price rise would bankrupt small retailers, then suppliers would be foolish to raise prices to those retailers. </p>
<p>Policy makers must be careful not to over-react to anti-competitive complaints from smaller retailers. If there is no waterbed effect then customers win when a large retailer flexes its countervailing power with suppliers. Retail prices will tend to fall. This makes life harder for small retailers but benefits the customers. </p>
<p>Suppliers, such as dairy processors and food importers, will complain when a large retailer negotiates a lower supply price. This reduces suppliers’ profits. But policy makers must be careful not to respond too quickly to these complaints. In the absence of a waterbed effect, any political intervention is likely to undermine competition and harm consumers. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/6255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor King is a former Member of the ACCC and provides advice to the ACCC and other organisations. He is not currently providing advice on any matters relating to retailing.</span></em></p>When a major retailer uses its countervailing power (or “market muscle”) to negotiate better terms from suppliers, should policy makers be concerned? In Australia, the debate has focused on dairy farmers…Stephen King, Professor, Department of Economics, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.