Detail Design: Furniture

                                    Detail Design :Furniture

By Alex Brown           

1.0       INTRODUCTION

For furniture as with any other designed product there are two basic aspects to the design:

a)         Appropriate function

b)        Appropriate image            

There are other issues involved in furniture design such as economics, single or mass production possibilities, technology, marketing and so on, but the issue of function and image remain central. Once these have been decided, the other issues can be addressed more easily.

2.0    APPROPRIATE FUNCTION

Furniture has certain obvious functions:

A chair:          for sitting on

A bed:             for lying on

A table:           for placing things on

A cabinet:      for putting things in

Shelves:        for putting things on...........and so on

The functional aspects of furniture have been thought about and worked on for at least five thousand years, because human beings have remained roughly the same shape during that time. Given the average shape and size of a human being, for instance, how many different ways are there of sitting down or placing things on a shelve?

The science of ergonomics (human dimensions re. the design of equipment) has produced information on the dimensions which are appropriate for almost all types of furniture use. By using these dimensions designers can produce objects which are, to some extent, AT LEAST, functionally adequate.

Clearly state the functional task and you will have already solved half the design problem.

What does this mean? It requires the furniture do the job it was designed to do. A piece of furniture is a machine for doing something. So, does the machine work well?

3.0    APPROPRIATE IMAGE

What is an appropriate image in terms of furniture design?

`Appropriate':          suitable for the particular situation. It also suggests that your expectations have been confirmed.

`Image':                     Overall shape, colour, materials, detail that defines a single identifiable object.

Appropriate Image in this sense means that FORM (its shape, colour and detail) of the object fits the circumstances in which it is to be seen and used.

For example: there is a great difference between the environment one expects to find in a disco as against a funeral parlour. What kind of music, colour or furniture would be appropriate to each? A chair designed or selected for one of these places might be very different from a chair designed or selected for another. The meaning of the chair is defined by the character of its environment.

The central question is, therefore, what kind of environment will this piece of furniture inhabit? Answering this question accurately narrows the design possibilities of the furniture that will be placed within it.  

4.0    ONE-OFF PIECES OR MASS PRODUCTION

           

Furniture in some sense has to be designed with a particular environment or place in mind - an environment which may already been designed and which will have its own colours, materials and lighting. This place gives the designer `clues' about the image required of the furniture. What should it look like in this place with this character.

On the other hand, furniture can also be designed for a general market where the exact character of the space (its colours, etc), cannot be known. The same piece of furniture could end up in several different environments.

These different circumstances require different approaches. For this reason we can look at two approaches to furniture design used by Interior and Furniture designers:

a)         Custom designed for a particular known environment (and possibly physically built-in).

b)         Designed for the general market and advertized through catalogues from which interior designers will select.

For economic reasons, in interior design it is a combination of the two approaches: part custom-designed, part catalogue selection.

5.0    DESIGN PROCESS

As always there are different ways of doing things but in the case of design there are two basic processes:

a)         Start from the functional aspect and develop the design image from there.

b)        Start from the image and modify the shape to deal with a functional issue.

Both approaches can lead to well-designed furniture (or any object). But...........remember - both issues have to be dealt with. There is no point in designing a comfortable chair if it looks clumsy or uncomfortable. No one will want to buy it. Equally, a dramatic and colourful piece of furniture might make people interested, but will they buy it if they can't use it easily?

This is what design is about: solving both the functional and image tasks. The end result must be an object which can be both physically and visually enjoyed.

It is as well to remember that, not only is a piece of furniture a machine for doing something, it is also seen as part of an environment. In this sense furniture can be thought of as pieces of sculpture which are placed within a particular environment and which reinforce its image or character. (or not). It is integral with its environment. It defines the character of the environment as much as the walls or floors.  Difficult, isn't it? Or is it?

Always refer back to the (imagined) environment for ideas about the design.

6.0    FROM FUNCTION TO IMAGE

With Approach a) above: the functional task - what the piece of furniture has to do -should be clearly defined first. Eg. If we design a chair: what kind of chair? Armchair, lounger, dining room, auditorium, conference, etc. etc. Decide!

The ergonomics for each type of chair can be researched quickly: height from the floor, location of back support, angle of back recline, and so on. This will give you a basic GEOMETRY for the chair - a basic grid upon which you can design the object itself.

Now! Like the human body itself, there are two aspects to the form of this chair:  The structure (skeleton) and the 'cladding' (muscles, skin) that give it shape:

a)         The seat/back/arm supports used by the human body. (Soft? Firm? Padded? Colour? Material?)

b)                 The structure or skeleton which holds these off the ground and in position. Eg. legs, frame, etc. (It must be strong. Metal? plastic? timber?).

This is where the design thinking comes in. Is the frame an obviously separate thing from the body support, or is it integrated into it?  What are the functional reasons for making such a decision? And what of course are the economics of materials and construction methods which limit the designers choices, for this or any other peice of furniture?

Is it possible to design something from a purely functional point of view?

The answer is probably not. The object has to be seen as part of an environment. It has to have meaning in that environment. Its visual qualities: shape, colour, texture and its form are therefore important.

The issue as always is: What do we want to SEE? Is the furniture an integral part of the space? Is the design of the chairs, cabinets, counters and desks consistent in IMAGE with the overall space?

Historical note: The major shift in the design of furniture occurred in the 1920s with the work of Marcel Breuer, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier. Until then chairs, for example were the 19th century heavily-padded type: the structure was INSIDE the padded form.

With the modern Movement of the 1920s, the structure was pulled OUTSIDE the general seating/support material and REVEALED (usually in stainless steel). The seating /back support material (usually leather) was slung on the steel frame. This clear separation of structure and form also took place in the architecture of the period. 

7.0    FROM IMAGE TO FUNCTION

With Approach b) the issues are very different. This starts from the idea of a shape which can give visual pleasure and interest and modifies it to let it carry out a functional task.

           

Where does one start with this approach?

START WITH THE IDEA OF PRODUCING A PIECE OF SCULPTURE - pure and simple - a self supporting shape which could be placed in an art gallery. (This is the have-fun stage!). You can do this by `free association' of ideas, playing with shapes you like, producing geometric assemblies, building rough models, etc. till you get something that looks `right', coherent, `interesting' to you. Don't be too cautious at this stage.

Remember: the practical problems of your furniture piece will already have been solved many, many times before. Furniture contractors are designing and building practical and ordinary items day by day.

Your job is to make furniture more interesting and beautiful. While you are doing this, in the back of your head your brain will also be checking the `sculpure' shape for functional possibilities. (Yes! you CAN think about two things at the same time!).

When you decide what kind of piece of furniture your shape can become apply the ergonomic grid to it and modify  the shape to make it work.

As you can see, most `designer' furniture is not very comfortable to use, but very interesting to look at. People buy it for that reason. Nothing is perfect, and everything can be modified to work in some way, so the bottom line from a designers point of view is:

Is this an interesting piece of furniture? Is it an interesting piece of sculpture? Look at what you have produced, what is the answer to this question?

8.0    COLOUR, TEXTURE AND DETAIL

Anything can be built, but not everything is worth building.

Shape, colour, texture and details: these are the visible and tactile aspects of design and can be manipulated to achieve whatever ends the designer wants.

COLOUR: Shape is a very powerful factor in appreciating objects but colour will affect the way people see the shape. The same object in bright red will be perceived differently from the same object in bright blue. You can use colour to control how people see the different parts of the object. The colours can be coded to express or emphasize different parts of the design. Colour can be used to visually distort the shape. What do you want them to see?

TEXTURE: Furniture is there to be touched and physically used. The texture of things is therefore important. Note the difference between the feel of leather, fabric, metal and timber. Warm, cool rough, smooth, both tactile and visual. You have control over this choice.

DETAILS: More than most other designed objects, furniture relies on details to emphasize its quality. This is because of its SIZE - it can be perceived, touched, picked up and used directly by people. While the overall shape/colour is important, details give the shape a particular character and scale which will be immediately percieved.

What are details? They are almost always the JOINTS or JUNCTIONS between different parts or materials of the piece. Depending on the design style it may be that the designer prefers to express the fixings and joints to give the object a `tougher' and more expressive look. Eg. by emphasizing the screwheads, rivets, seams, etc. Or it may be that he/she needs to smooth everything out. Its all a matter of design choice based ultimately on where the piece will be, in what environment it will be seen.

9.0    THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT

There is no such thing as a single piece of furniture designed to exist on its own. Think of furniture as SETS of objects related to each other. So too there is no such thing as a single light fitting designed to be seen on its own, nor an individual colour, nor an individual texture. The profession of the designer is to design complete environments

 . That is, totally integrated environments where all elements are conceived as part of the whole. Although there can be accents, highlights or 'special effects' within a space, these are meant to influence the space as a whole - to sharpen one's perception of it.

In a real sense the designer produces the equivalent of STAGE SETS. That is, probably temporary, yet totally believable environments which capture a particular atmosphere and provide a definite experience for the user. Does the space have a definite character where all the parts are carefully chosen to match each other. Is it a definite PLACE?

The answer to this depends of what one might call FOCUS. That is can the designer maintain a rigorous, consistent and continuous process of selection within the limits of his/her original concept. Can this concept be made real by bringing together all the elements of colour, shape texture and detail which are related to each other in terms of the concept. The concept is the framework, the pattern, the goal, the target, the idea, the guideline, the philosophy, the notion, the template.

In the movie industry, set designers certainly can and do - within the very tight functional and budgetary requirements of the movie. Whether that be a science fiction concept (Blade Runner, Alien) or historical drama, (The Red Lantern, Runs with Wolves), the environment of the SET and the detail of the PROPS make the whole thing believable. There is no conceptual difference between this and Interior Design or Exhibition Design. The end result is the creation of a whole environment which 'hangs together' in terms of the colour scheme, the shape of the space and the elements within it.

 

10.0  THE LAST WORD

There is no dining chair without a related dining table. Think of furniture as always having a surrounding environment to which it is related. Even single chairs will be grouped together. There is never only ONE chair in a room. Designers design environments. Furniture is part of that environment and it is the part which people use most immediately and directly. Keep switching focus between the WHOLE - the environment and its concept, and the PART - furniture and fittings and details.

END