FROM ECO-DESIGN CULTURE
TO MATERIAL STRUCTURE
Dr. Inga Valentinienė

Summary

You cannot hold a design in your hand. It is not a thing.

It is a process. A system. A way of thinking.

Bob Gill, Design as a Second Language

This monograph covers the principles of eco-friendly furniture design and production. However, as a methodological tool, it can also be applied by designers in other industries. It describes and illustrates the ways of designing eco-design objects – furniture and other interior elements – and defines the new eco-friendly compositional structures that do not contain materials of different types, and are as energy-efficient as possible to recycle, functional, durable and visually aesthetic.

The monograph aims to develop methods for designing eco-design objects (furniture) based on the new scientific discoveries of the natural composite materials of biological origin. It is intended to send an eco-message to the public and especially to designers that it is not the ability to recycle or Trash Design that is defined as eco-design but the ability at the very first stage of life to create eco-friendly products from natural biodegradable substances, which, after their use, are readily biologically degradable.

In Lithuania, there is a lack of literature providing consistent methodologies that specify what principles should be followed and what construction materials could be used to design ecological objects. It is difficult to find regulations or other references regarding the processes that accompany the ecology of a product as well as a clear definition of absolutely clean construction materials. Often referred to as 'green', design objects have little or no relation to sustainability. This is due to a lack of information on the concept of a sustainable product and, of course, too limited supply of eco-friendly construction materials.

The publication focuses on furniture design; however, the new concept of eco or sustainable design, based on the Design Thinking approach, combines all design trends as well as social, technological and economic fields. The design of this field as a stand-alone phenomenon for art simply cannot exist anymore.

Furniture is an intermediate link between a human being and the information encoded in the material. According to business people, there is no better way to introduce new material to the public than to use it for furniture design. It is nice that eco-design objects not only fulfil the direct practical function of a household object but also pursue an educational mission. When they talk about their creative process, many authors mention the desire to convey the idea of changing and living differently with the objects they create. Famous furniture companies and world-famous designers have become eco-design proponents. Recently, a lot of global studies have revealed that it was the companies that have embraced social and environmental responsibility in developing green, healthier and more energy-efficient products that have deserved the attention of consumers, employees and investors. The parallel spread of such ideas in different corners of the world has revealed common flair that what has been done wrong can be corrected and that the personal tools we have are within our environment.

The methods of eco-design are intertwined and can be adapted in various ways. For this reason, the most common terms used in the monograph are a design object, a product, without specifying a chair or a table. This will help every designer, while reading, imagine the applicability of the ideas discussed in the projects of their field.

The monograph structure itself could be a method for a furniture designer. It is based on a new product development model: defining the area of the field – exploring the problem of the idea – creating an object of the field – constructing a prototype object – preparing project documentation. Eco-designing includes all of the elements of this model, although usually, a designer is reluctant to go deeper into the requirements set for the object to be designed, the descriptions of the related documents, the structural subtleties, and even the ideological justification.

This publication has been deliberately designed for electronic (digital) publishing in the background of an ever-expanding new ideology of Design Thinking, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Industry 4.0, and a new phase of economic development. The functionality of electronic publications, like the ever-changing world, provides opportunities to expand and even update the content through the links to the related information. As a methodological publication, this monograph is meant for a new product development, and it is essential for the design specialist who uses this publication to be kept up-to-date on the newest regulations issued, innovations in design and specified libraries of construction materials. Having extended the boundaries of a traditional monograph, it acts as a gateway between knowledge bases and the user.

Eco-design has become a major part of the design culture. Designer-created combinations of working mechanisms, shapes, colors and materials are not merely visual. These objects contain included contexts, actions, beliefs, and relationships. All material objects are not just objects, they play an important role in environmental studies. All created objects of material culture are not just objects because they play an important role in the development of cognitive abilities in the environment. The types and nature of material things help us analyze cultures and patterns of consumption, followed by perceptions of the world and lifestyle choices.

The publication consists of five parts. The first part introduces the concept of eco-design, changes in attitudes towards ecology, changes in the principles of eco-design and industrial innovation for sustainability and overall sustainability. The transformation of the concept of eco-design is described from the beginning, when designers contributed to the eco-design paying attention to their life cycle characteristics, to the present day, when designing with social, technological, production and consumption aspects in mind.

All projects and design decisions start with an idea. The second part describes the 3 stages of finding ideas. At first, a tangible starting point and a source of inspiration is found, followed by a selection of design studies that correlate with ideational issues. The process of searching for ideas ends when, with the help of imaginative possibilities, the idea is formulated, and its meaning substantiated.

Part 3 presents the methods used in the design / development phase of eco-design objects. It is said that the design revolution begins with designers' decisions. At present, there is a new industrial revolution, influenced by a radical turn in design thinking. There is a rapid development of engineering, technology and software to digitize projects from the earliest stage. This goes hand in hand with the concept of sustainable design, since not only design and production of structural elements have been digitized, but also the production of the materials themselves. The sustainable design / development phase expresses the new expectations that designers face when creating a new world. It eliminates the concept of waste and the circular economy sounds like a natural name for the object creation process.

Part 4 sets out the requirements for eco-friendly furniture design / construction. In search of new forms of quality improvement, designers are increasingly turning to the examples of nature, materials that are human and nature friendly, new forms of comfortable furniture and multifunctional capabilities. However, no matter how the furniture structures are improved, there are well-established basic standards that must be followed. They serve as a guidelines for further decisions as traffic rules for safe movement on the road. This section also provides biomaterial characteristics, examples and links to virtual material libraries. There are thousands of examples and characteristics of materials provided to visit them on-line.

The procedure and importance of developing a technical product documentation package for a new product is described in part 5. For many designers, preparing a descriptive part of a project sounds like an Mission Impossible. However, failure to do so threatens to halt creative work in the initial – idea phase. Well-prepared technical documentation is required for product and service users. It is an integral part not only of customer support but also of branding and trust in the developer or manufacturer.

The structure of the monograph is based on the steps of developing a new product based on the principle of initially refining and substantiating the idea, selecting the most appropriate method for designing the object, subsequently selecting the materials, components of the object, carefully constructing the structure and finally producing the first prototype.