FANGYI LIU
Industrial Design
Wooden Furniture Design Project
Rather than using hard wares for fastening, this project recommends us to tenon each part. The furniture we designed will also take part in the IWF (international wood-working fair) furniture design competition. I chose the nightstand as the object to design.
RESEARCH
“The first known use of the word nightstand was in 1892. Before indoor flushing toilets became commonplace, the main function of a nightstand was to contain a chamber pot.”
Cited from "Wikipedia"
But thanks to the inventing of indoor bathroom, people wouldn’t use nightstand as a chamber pot holder any more. And multiple functions has been found in modern nightstand designs.
Display: Most of the nightstands have a tabletop, which provide the function of displaying the daily uses in the bedroom, including lamp, water bottle, phone charger, medication, alarm clock, etc.
Storage: Due to the particular placement, nightstand always has a closed storage place for the private secrets.
Additional Functions: Besides the traditional functions, some other additional functions also need to be considered, for the purpose of making the consumers becoming lazier on their bed.
Chinese Elements: Traditional Furniture
Chinese traditional furniture has a long history. With time goes on, some special features and wood joints have been developed and shown in the design. So how to utilize these raw features and transform them into a modern way is the problem I need to solve.
Chinese Elements: Traditional Architectures
Furniture design links with architecture design. In Chinese traditional architecture, many structures and joineries can be found in traditional furniture. Also, the architecture form study can break the limitation of regular furniture form.
IDEATIONS- Sketches
IDEATIONS- Joinery Test
Some traditional Chinese wood joints have been tested. The joints themselves were pretty strong. Although most of the making process can be done by milling machine, mortising machine, band saw and router, precise working is still the biggest concern for the full size model.
IDEATIONS- Scale Models
This design abstracted and utilized the rock shape in Chinese Garden. The storage contains closed storage space and exposed shelf, then people was able to arrange different stuff easily. The design of the chamfer on each storage door serves as handle.
For this concept, I’ve added some chamfers to “Zongjiao” joint at the four tabletop corners. With this Special frame, the window on each side makes the storage become an octagon shape, which has some similarities to the window appeared in traditional Chinese Garden.
This concept was inspired by the patterns in traditional furniture. The symmetrical pattern was abstracted and transformed into a structure of the nightstand. Different areas can serve different storage purposes.
This concept mainly focus on the multiple functions of a nightstand, combining the bed table with a nightstand. The design can make it more convenience to use a bed table when seating or leaning on the bed. Also, the nightstand could storage books, magazines or laptop, which people need to use on their bed table.
This concept was designed based on a Chinese traditional furniture, raised edge table. Instead of having only one tabletop, I divided it into two layers for differentiating the area for different functions. The topper one can play some stationary things such as table lamp and photo frame. The lower one can place the things that need to be easily grabbed, such as smart phone and bottle of water.
FULL SIZE TEST MODEL
Construction of Steel Reinforcement
The two tabletops don’t have closed frames, which may cause four weak points at each corner. I bended the steel rods and sandwiched them into the wood to reinforce the structure strength.
For the first full size test model, I’ve learnt a lot during the modeling process. Several ways of making a wood joint has been tested and compared, milling machine, router, band saw, table saw, mortising machine, radial arm saw and etc. Also, some parts have been combined in order to simplify the parts number.
FINAL MODEL- Processes
Step 1: Steel Reinforcement. Using grooves to hide the bended steel rods inside the wood and glue the pieces toghther.
Step 2: Wood Joints Making. Using the band saw to cut a rough shape first. Then using mortising and milling machine to make precise wood joints. Also, the grooves for plywood to sit in need to be made by router.
Step 3: Drawer Making. Using radial arm saw to cut the wood into small parts. Using table saw and router to make the surface-connected joints.
Step 4: Assembling and Finishing. Gluing parts together and sanding smoother. Wiping Tung Oil on the entire furniture as the finishing for several layers.
FINAL MODEL
For the final model material, I chose African mahogany and mahogany plywood. Instead of flushing all the tenons, I left a quarter inch head for each tenon to fit the sticking out drawer handle.
One of the most powerful features in this design is the customization for either bedside. The drawer can be easily taken out and inserted in from either side. People can easily maintain their placement needs by changing the drawer’s orientation.
