BALTSE@NIOR AT STOCKHOLM FURNITURE & LIGHT FAIR 2018!
Prototypes of intelligent furniture and tools supporting companies, developed by scientists from Finland, Germany and Poland, baseboards allowing for detection of an elderly person’s fall or mirror enabling display of personalized messages.
Moreover, an entirely 3D printed suit simulating physical limitations related to senior age and examples of redesign of Polish armchairs from the 60’s adapted to the needs of contemporary seniors created during international workshops by young designers and engineers from Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Germany and Norway. All of that was presented at the exhibition showing the results of BaltSe@nioR project at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair. Furniture manufacturers could also recognize the advantages of using a sensor mat when designing mattresses and seats for example for the elderly. This solution allows to calculate the comfort index being an objective tool for assessing the quality of furniture lying and seating areas.
Thus, not only the effects, but also unique design methods used in this international project, coordinated by the Faculty of Wood Technology at the Poznan University of Life Sciences, co-financed by the EU (INTERREG Baltic Sea Region Program), were shown. The project aims to encourage designers and enterprises to create and manufacture furniture that improves the comfort and safety of elderly people’s life. It gathers experts representing a wide range of competences in the field of wood technology, design, information and communication technologies from nine countries of the Baltic Sea region: Poland, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Within the project a broad library of knowledge on senior population will be created and launched online.
Presentation at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair was a story about a unique attitude to design that is characterized by a multidisciplinary, iterative approach. In the subsequent presentations of the BaltSe@nioR project, both pilot furniture designs and tools for their creation are being improved and developed. The Stockholm Fair was the next public presentation of the age simulator, this time expanded with new modules and technological solutions. What is worth emphasizing, the methods and design tools developed within BaltSe@anioR will be available online free of charge to encourage entrepreneurs and furniture designers to create more pieces of furniture adjusted perfectly to seniors needs.