Render of a plywood armchair with a purple cushion standing on a round rug

Future Families

Circular furniture, pregnancy to play

Year: 2024
Place: London
Context: Group project with DFS, Sustainable Systems module, Royal College of Art and Imperial College London
Role: Life cycle assessment, material specification, design

8.9 kg CO₂: less per cushion than polyurethane foam
DFS: industry partner, with a factory visit

An armchair that reconfigures from a pregnancy recliner into a child’s climbing arch.

01The brief

DFS, the sofa maker, asked for a product with a full life cycle assessment behind it. We visited their factory, assessed a sofa, and set out to replace the materials that did the damage.

Sketches of the chair in many configurations with a pregnant woman, a baby and a toddler — Who it is for: a family, from pregnancy to play.

02One frame

The same plywood parts and dowels build a reclining chair, a rocking chair and a climbing arch. It is designed to come apart, for repair and reuse.

Render of the frame turned over to make a child’s climbing arch on a round rug — The chair turned over into a climbing arch.

Exploded drawings of the plywood frame built three ways — Three builds from one set of parts.

Render of the chair frame separated into its plywood parts and dowels — The frame taken apart.

03The cushion

Polyurethane foam carried the biggest footprint in the cushion. In its place: natural latex, British wool and hemp. Wool is a natural fire retardant.

Cut-away cushion render labelled natural latex, hemp and British wool — Latex core, wool, hemp cover.

Natural latex: Cushion core. 1.7 kg CO₂ per cushion, against 10.6 kg for polyurethane foam. 67% less transport CO₂
Hemp: Cover. 1.36 kg CO₂ per cushion. The crop takes up 22 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare. 57% less transport CO₂ than velvet
British wool: Insulation, and a natural fire retardant. 0.099 kg CO₂ per cushion
Eco-plywood: Frame. −0.6 kg CO₂ net per frame. Expected to last 20 years

04Four generations

The chair is sold in four generations, one for each stage of family life. When a stage ends, it goes back to DFS for store credit, is refurbished and sold to another family.

Gen 1: Pregnancy to age 5. Five use cycles before it is retired
Gen 2: Ages 6 to 10. Three use cycles
Gen 3: Ages 11 to 18. Two use cycles
Gen 4: Adults, 19 to 35. One use cycle
Return: Store credit depends on the chair’s condition and age. DFS cleans and refurbishes it and sells it to another family

Flow diagram of a chair passing through four generations, returned to DFS for store credit at each step — The take-back loop.