Edinburgh Napier University

  Method Furniture craft their quality bespoke furniture that is shipped to customers all over the world. To protect the product they hand make basic wooden transportation boxes to keep the products safe. Due to their solid construction, they have found that some of their customers have started re-using the packing boxes in various ways and they came up with an idea that they would like to develop this and integrate re-usability as standard for their packing boxes, perhaps by providing them with the functionality to be easily converted by their customers into another piece of lower-end but quirky furniture so the customer would receive two products in one. This re-use fits very well with Method Furniture’s commitment to sustainability.

The company would like to collaborate with the Design group at Edinburgh Napier University to turn this idea into a reality. The company’s expertise lies very firmly in the detailed luxury end of the spectrum and they would benefit from ENU’s expertise, input and track record particularly in designing novel but functional products from re-claimed wood sources and the process involved. The process of producing the package/product is as important as the design itself. It would need to be easily and efficiently constructed so it doesn’t add much extra time and workload for the company and the re-usability concept would need to be easily replicated for a range of product styles. For the voucher project they will most likely focus on one new furniture product that they are currently prototyping for the retail market.