Archives of Design Research

[Image 1] Overall instruction

[Diagram 1] Strategy for successful eco-friendly product

(Source: Strategy for successful eco-friendly product, Samsung Economic Research Institute, CEO Information, Issue No.863, 2012.9.29.)

Furniture design is gradually emerging as a single 'LIFE STYLE' rather than a manufacturing business, and consumer

culture of 'eco' is gradually being spread. Globally, consumers who consider the eco-friendliness of products when making purchases are gradually increasing, and governments of each country are starting to exclude products that have negative effects on the environment and starting to strengthen the country's environmental policies. In addition, in a situation where the prices of resources are rising, eco-friendly products are alternatives of achieving economic growth and resource conservation at the same time.

Therefore, the concept of eco-friendly furniture must include the social and the user experiences caused by the demands in culture and lifestyle through the changes in modern society from the furniture of its original form, instead of simply referring to the concept of reusability and sustainability. In other words, rather than concentrating on external developments such as materials, conceptual approaches considering the thoughts of the era must be attempted.

Also, through concerns of children's low birthrate and nuclearization of families worldwide, children's furniture are also forming large markets worldwide according to widely accepted form of culture and high growth of angel businesses(business targeting children), affecting the overall industrial markets. Eventually, children-related products will most likely be the key figures in the future society, whereas the design is expected to play an important role of creating the added value of the products in the international community. Therefore, countries around the world(especially Europe) are currently having a profound interest in child-related product designs, and thus, our country is urgently in need of further research and studies on children's furniture, especially on eco-friendly kids furniture.

In order to develop, commercialize, and export eco-friendly children's furniture design, design elements such as creativity, color presentation, and manufacturing stages should be processed efficiently, and not only the materials should be applied to the furnishings, but a design process in a level of a superordinate concept through the identification of the true meaning of 'eco-friendly' and 'children' and a recreation process through a systematic and objective analysis is essential. Thus, modern reinterpretations of using only simple materials to combining values and the perspectives of the modern era is necessary in developing eco-friendly children's furniture.

A typical eco-friendly raw material such as the birch wood has high labor cost and is unsuitable for mass production and export markets due to its distorted shape and its characteristic of being manufactured by hand.

Although the main materials used in our country's children's furniture are known to be eco-friendly, chemical-free materials, the finishes such as glue and paint, that are also eco-friendly, are rarely used. Particularly, addition of chemical oils(paint) and artificial, toxic substances such as plastic and synthetic materials are raising environmental problems, and thus, the development of an entire eco-friendly production process, from the material to the finishing stage, is desperately needed.

As a result, the design development, depending on the material, techniques, and the design, were planned according to the following criteria.

First, to raise awareness of eco-friendliness by applying eco-friendly materials for every component parts.

Second, focusing on the technical efficiency of assembling and transforming the furniture. Through the simplicity of the assembly process, the furniture was designed to transform in accordance to children's growth and development.

Third, if the process of assembling and disassembling was inconvenient in the previous DIY furniture, this product is created with one-touch joint system that allows anyone to assemble and disassemble the parts easily and quickly.

Fourth, each part can be added or purchased separately according to the preferred design.

Lastly, light, non-distorted materials were used in order to optimize into the global markets and exports, and the design were developed so that no other assembling or after-processing stage is needed.

The following product offers the meaning of eco-friendly children's furniture through its technology, function, material, and design. The target of the work is limited to children from ages four to thirteen years old.

4.1. The design

① Material: Each pieces of the furniture were created with PLA and non-toxic ABS in order for the consumers to be able to choose the materials depending on each circumstances.

First, PLA(Polylactic acid) is a 100% organic polyester with outstanding antibacterial effect developed from biodegradable corn material(from corn starch to glucose by fermentation, lactic acid is produced by condensing of biodegradable resources).

The PLA resin is approved by Korean Food and Drugs Administration, the FDA of the United States, Europe, Canada, Japan, Germany, and other related governmental agencies as substances harmless to the environment and the human body, which also do not produce toxic substances such as dioxins that cause cancer. In addition, the PLA material is 100% organic-based plastic that is both safe and hygienic. General chemical products produce endocrine-disrupting and carcinogenic compounds when exposed to heat; however, the PLA does not produce such harmful substances.

Secondly, reduction of eye fatigue and insecurity were induced through the use of ABS that does not release harmful substances such as formaldehyde and volatile compounds, which is also safe from sick house syndromes, atopic dermatities, and stimulation of the nervous tissues. In addition, due to the nature of the material resistant to water, a wide variety of products could be stored as a shoe cabinet, or as a kitchen or a bathroom storage.

② Color: 4 colors―White, Green, Pink, Black

③ Size: Each panel is 400, 300, 200mm in size, and they can be each connected to transform into different sizes and shapes through the use of 'connecting bridges'.

[Table 2]
Product summarization chart

	Image of targeted technologies·products and keyword for development
Technology
	Connecting bridge	One-touch joint
Design
	Furniture that is transformable according to children's growth and development
Material
	Non-toxic ABS (Light Weight, Durability, Expedition Strength, Formaldehyde. zero)	Polyester from biodegradable corn starch ('Nature Works PLA')
Strengths	■ Eco-friendly material, eco-friendly design ■ Transformable design according to the growth and development of children ■ Efficiency of assembly through one-touch joint ■ Self-assembly type furniture ■ No additional components or finishes necessary → Efficiency of mass production → Advancement into the global markets and exports

4.2. Technology

4.2. Technology

① The technology that allows the users to easily assemble and disassemble the parts through the system of cross-matching the panels.

This design is a self-assembly furniture that is able to transform into new forms of furniture by connecting plates of panels to other panels.

The component parts consist of the panels, the connecting bridges, the main blocks, the panel inserts, and the rear plates. Panels along the edges are separated by multiple numbers of accommodated inserts, and the connecting bridges are placed along the main blocks that are developed in the form of a brick. The bridges are also placed along the front, the rear, the upper, or the lower part of the main block, where the connecting plates are fixed, and on the sides of the connecting plates that are formed to insert each of the connecting plates. In addition, the upper and the lower parts contain pin-supporting blocks that suspend elastics through springs.

▪ The main block above is formed in the shape of a square.

▪ The side of the main block above is formed in the shape of an arc, and the connecting polyphases of the plates above are formed at right angles.

▪ A screw hole is formed for the connection of the main block and the connecting plates above.

▪ The connection holes for connection pins on the upper and the lower part of the panels are developed more.

▪ An insert of a rear panel exists along the edges of a line that is formed by the rear panel that is placed at the back side of the furniture.

▪ At the front of the furniture consists a door installed at the axis of rotation.

▪ The door contains no.1 magnet as well as magnet no.2

② One-touch assembly technology

Like the cross-matching one-touch system above, one slight press of the button, and the furniture is assembled without the need of separate tools.

When disassembling the parts, the usage of the buttoner allows the easy disassembly of the furniture without the fear of breakage.

As shown in the following [Table 3], the brackets are connected to the joint body to transform into different shapes of +,I,T,R,L joints. Solid structural design is safe for heavy loads, and the button-assembly system allows anyone to assemble the furniture quickly and easily.

[Table 3]
Component parts and weight

Components	Image	Material	Weight(g)
P202		ABS / PLA	326
P316		ABS / PLA	510
JOINT		PC	60
S-JOINT		ABS / PLA	42
S-CAP		ABS / PLA	16
R-JOINT		ABS/ PLA	28
R-CAP		ABS / PLA	26

[Table 4]
Connection brackets

Image

[Table 5]
Instructions for joints and parts

	Joint and individual parts
Detailed description for each joint parts
+Joint
I-Joint
T-Joint
R-Joint
L-Joint
Component 1 (Joint) Diagram
Component 2 (Joint) Diagram
Component 3 (Cap) Diagram
Component 4 (Panel1,2)
Structure

[Table 6]
Assembly order

	Image
Assembly 1
Assembly 2
Assembly 3
Assembly 4
Assembly 5
Assembly 6
Assembly 7
Assembly 8

[Table 7]
Final result

Upper part	Description) Through the cross-matching of the parts of the panels, the users are able to create or self-assemble the furniture suitable to their needs.
Transforms
Round	Description) When developing the corner of the furniture, round corners can prevent the children from injury.

In this study, all sides of design, technology, and material were actively applied in developing eco-friendly children's furniture. Thus, under the big category of eco-friendly children's furniture, the purpose of the study was to develop an environmentally-friendly furniture with a universal design approach at children's eye level, and thus, ultimately maximize economic benefits by reducing consumption of resources and pollution of the environment. As a result, develop an eco-friendly furniture that is suitable to the foreign markets as well as the exporting markets, acting as a role model for the currently-withering domestic markets. Through this, one wishes the further development boom of the eco-friendly children's furniture, and hopes this study can be one of the best cases for the future directions of eco-friendly children's furniture.