Rather than reusing their existing furniture in the new workplaces, there is a tendency for acquiring new interior solutions. For various reasons usable furniture are considered as waste and replaced by new. This is a paradox for both the design and furniture manufacturing industries; on one hand this creates more work and sales opportunities as there is a demand for the new, yet the pressure against ‘throw-awayism’ and the appreciation of sustainability is penetrating our lives everywhere. For many companies the issues of re-use and re-cycle have become more and more important to consider as part of their business logic.

In the workshop this challenge is addressed by making critical remarks through design interventions on existing, used furniture and with supportive conceptual visualisations. The students are asked to design and make an usable object for their selected person living in Oslo by using mainly the given second-hand furniture, their parts or materials. To choose a citizen of Oslo as the user is intended to reflect the potential of needs, personality and values for a reconfigured object. The aim is to comment the theme of re-use through the new objects both as a challenge in the up-cycling of the materials and as the related social responsive act.

The project is done in collaboration with EFG European Furniture Group. The results of the workshop will be exhibited in the Designers’ Saturday-event next September.