Charlotte Hamilton

The furniture kit makes woodworking accessible through teaching and up-skilling in order to reduce furniture waste through the sense of satisfaction and ownership. You can build your own chair, stool or table using basic woodworking skills and the detailed instruction booklet.

The inspiration behind the project was a wood workshop that I facilitated with participants from VIA charity and the London Green Wood, an outdoor wood workshop. The idea was that the participants who are in rehabilitation would benefit from spending time in nature whilst learning basic woodworking skills in order to discover a passion, talent or simply have an activity to focus their minds on. The up-skilling process can then be continued through the 'fabricate furniture kit'. 

22 million pieces of furniture are discarded each year in the UK and less than 1 in 10 people consider repairing their furnishings to extend their life span. Due to the Endowment effect, an effect in psychology that explains the tendency to overvalue things we own or have made creating stronger ownership, making your own furniture could begin to solve the furniture waste issue. The most common Ikea joint is used because of its accessibility, but as a result is not durable and leads to people discarding their furniture. This informed the idea of designing joints that could make the piece of furniture both accessible and durable.