Play furniture customized for preschool environment : A product development project

Abstract The report deals with a product development project commissioned by Ludmilla Kompaniet at Almi Business Partner. The project is carried out in the course "Degree Project for degree of Bachelor of Science in innovation and design" at Karlstad University. The project supervisor is Monica Jacobsson, lecturer and the examining professor is Leo de Vin. The work is being examined in spring 2018. The commissioner Ludmilla Kompaniet had an idea of a furniture that children could use without harming themselves and they could play with it and use their full creativity. The furniture should not influence the child that will use it. The purpose of the project is to provide a concept for a furniture that is safe for children to use and that it should encourage the children to choose their own area of use. The project follows the design process described in Produktutveckling – effektiva metoder för konstruktion och design av Johannesson et al. (2004), which is taught at Karlstad University. The final concept is a furniture that is adapted for children in pre-school age. It can be used in different kind of ways and by children in different ages. The child controls how it wants the furniture to be used, in play or as traditional furniture. It is easy to wash and has a shape that prevents children from falling on it. The material is free of hormone-disturbing substances that can harm the health of the children. A function model has been manufactured and tested by children but not in the intended material as it exceeded the economy of the project