No. 192
Foldable Furniture
By : Muyuan He
Entrant’s location : United States
What did you create?
I designed a set of foldable furniture out of cardboard. The set includes a foldable table, a stool that fits inside the table, cabinets and various foldable standing desks (one for general usage, one with a slanted surface for more ergonomic usage, one with a larger working surface). Each piece can be taken apart and folded into portable flat sheets.
Why did you make it?
This is designed for people who need to constantly move and who have little living space. Having to move every year since I started college, I experienced the stress of buying and selling large furniture. I also noticed that most furniture is not designed to move easily. It is also concerning to see the amount of unwanted furniture discarded on the street every end of an academic year. In addition, if people can fold out furniture when not using, they could feel less clustered about their space and gain more productivity. Most of the standing desks in the market are heavy and expensive. I believe that it should not only be the wealthy people that can choose a healthier lifestyle. Therefore, I came up with three different designs for foldable standing desks that cost minimally and can be recycled.
How did you make it?
Each prototype was first made at a smaller scale on paper and then hand cut on corrugated cardboard before weight test. Each finished design has been through at least 50 different iterations.