A new set of resources which aims help furniture designers with standards and ergonomics recommendations has been launched at 100% Design today.
Over 70 people attended an exclusive event to launch the new Furniture Design Toolkit (FDT) at the design industry trade show, staged at London’s Earls Court Exhibition Centre, this morning.
Created by Furniture Industry Research Association, the FDT combines essential information for the design process, such as legislation, standards, ergonomics, anthropometrics, task analysis and user trials, which has never previously been available in one document.
Furniture design experts Jim Taylour, principle ergonomist at Orangebox, Simon Dennehy, CEO and founder of Perch, Stuart Lawson, associate head, School of Design - De Montfort University, and FIRA’s own Principal Ergonomist, Levent Çaglar, formed a panel to discuss the FDT and what it means to the design industry.
Following the official launch, the Toolkit is now available to download from the newly created website, fdt.fira.co.uk.
Levent Çaglar, FIRA International’s Principal Ergonomist, says: “We noticed that there was a gap in resources for furniture designers and so set about collating this essential information into one easy to use guide specifically for furniture. It also helps to explain the standards and guides designers on how to apply them to different types of furniture.
“In my experience, it is easier for a designer to incorporate standards and ergonomics early on in the design process. Details about how to carry out techniques such as task analysis and user trials are also included in the guide. I’d like to thank everyone involved in launching the Toolkit today. We hope that designers will find the FDT a really practical set of resources which explains some of the more complicated side of furniture design in an easy to understand format.”
The FDT is the only design resource to contain this highly valuable information, provided by industry experts. The Toolkit focuses on office, school and contract/hospitality furniture.
The FDT is available to download from the website (fdt.fira.co.uk) as an interactive PDF. The Toolkit can be accessed free of charge to members of the Furniture Industry Research Association or purchased for £90 by non-members.
FIRA is also exhibiting and giving out information about the FDT throughout 100% Design (18-21 September) at Stand O33a.
