Looking forward to 2024, our key focuses will be flexibility, de-materiality, and the aesthetics of circularity.
Flexibility:
Flexibility of use and construction prolongs the useful life of products, systems, and buildings and enables adaptive reuse, repair, and recycling.
De-Materiality:
A challenge to minimise the content and complexity of all assembly built systems to de-materialise and de-carbonise our built environment.
Aesthetics of Circularity:
Rejecting certain practices, such as gluing textiles to foams, or avoiding composites, will drive a new aesthetic culture driven by circularity.
We have captured our main themes and insights from 2023: materiality, circularity, decoding complexity, learning, and valuing emotion.
Materiality
Pupa: How does a circular economy approach facilitate the seamless reintegration of materials into multiple life cycles?
Modus, Edge Free: How can we shift away from a fossil fuel-centred manufacturing and consumer culture?
Bene, bFRIENDS: How can the combination of recycled bioplastics and additive manufacturing contribute to a more circular product culture?
Thinking: Would the egg chair be designed today with the current planet-first design shift?
Circularity
Material Change: How does circular design broaden the designer’s role to include material sources, supply chains, and recycling processes?
TAKT, Task Chair: How does the shift from human-centred to nature-centred design foster inclusivity, co-design, and circularity?
Howe, SixE: How can achieving circularity in plastic chairs, b eliminating glass fiber and using recycled polypropylene, incorporate designing for longevity?
Decoding Complexity
Lufthansa, Allegris: How does the shift to remove work broaden business travel for passengers unwilling to compromise experience?
Swiss Airlines, Senses: How does integrating colour and texture enhance environments for a warm and well-being-focused experience?
Senator, Densiti: How can furniture meet the diverse demands of halls, auditoriums, cafes, and offices for comfort and space efficiency?
Learning
Senator, CoLab: How can future-facing furniture systems replace desk-bound dynamics, fostering interactive learning and efficient collaboration in flexible environments?
Thinking: How will technology transform ergonomics?
Valuing emotion
Allermuir, Famiglia: How do adaptable furniture systems bring psychological comfort by letting users define environments that reflect their personality?
esPattio, Libro: How can design balance touch-down tasks, collaborative meetings, lounging, and privacy for modern work and hospitality?
