A fantastic idea Niamh, so many applications for such a design. How can we help. If you could list 3 or 4 areas that the UpRising community could do to help with your MDP that would make it easier for us to assist you. 

Are you after materials, advice, or help with construction?  Who exactly is your primary target market?

Looking forward to seeing this 4 in 1 come alive.

Awesome

Hi Niamh,

Congratulations on your 4-in-1 collapsible solution for people working from home! I have an idea for you to help make your furniture more 'circular by design'. Creating end-of-life cycles for office furniture is a hot topic in the sustainability and circular economy industry at the moment.

An organisation called GECA has licensees who are certified under GECA's lifecycle ecolabel furniture standards. These standards consider the end of life at the design stage, including design for disassembly, reuse or recycling.

Here's a great article on the extent of the problem: https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/office-furniture-headache-15-000-unwanted-desks-172-whitegoods-1000-blinds-20220517-p5am42.html

Please feel free to email me and I would be happy to connect you with someone from GECA. My email is chelsea@circulareconomypioneers.com.au All the best with your project!

Warm regards, Chelsea 

@UpRising

Thank you for reaching out! My target market is people who are working from home, or those that live in a small apartment that cannot have a permanent office arrangement due to smaller square footage. Something that could help is having some contact with a business that has a proportion of its employees working from home that could offer an evaluation or some survey answers. 

@Circular Economy Pioneers Australia 

Thank you for your comment! If you could help me get into contact with someone from GECA to see if they could help me create a life-cycle analysis for my MDP that would be much appreciated and would help me out with the evaluation process. 

@TimRyan1959

Thank you!

@blume

Thanks heaps!

Some of these ideas when you search furniture on IdeaSpies may be helpful. A few are from our Artistic Editor Gillian Corban and include a circular economy x chair.

https://www.ideaspies.com/search?q=Furniture

@Lynn Wood

Thank you! I will check out the link.

Good evening UpRising Designer

Two Days left before we close UpRising’s ‘People's Choice Seed Funding Award’. 

A few weeks ago, I thought, let’s shake things up and get you the help you need now…enter People's Choice Award..I thought we would get maybe 10 or 20 hits. 

No, you guys went ballistic! Over 5000 ‘Likes’ from all over NSW, some of you have even made the local newspaper!!! 

However, what is going to happen next is even better. 

This Thursday afternoon, 30th June, 5pm I will be announcing the 3 People’s Choice Award winners and how your seed funding $$$ will be transferred to you. I will also give you all a sneak peek at what this next level is all about, think, Australia's biggest most prestigious design event of the year..

Please jump into the zoom, Thursday, ask any questions about UpRising and let me know how we can make it even better for you.  

Join Zoom Meeting 5pm 30/6/22

https://zoom.us/j/4967918362?pwd=TFlPcUFHVHR6MGdMRmM1Qk9XTzhzUT09

Rock on Designers!

UpRising / Richard Hainsworth

Topic: UpRising People's Choice Awards + ...?

Time: Jun 30, 2022 05:00 PM

Join Zoom Meeting

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Hi Niamh,

This is excellent! A very thoughtful address to a very real problem. I have a few suggestions for your kind consideration: 

1) When looking further in to the nuts and bolts of the design, do consider including some research into chemical additives such as glues or coatings if you have not already done so. Harmful or non-degradable chemicals can persist in furniture as its being used or when it finally goes to the tip and accumulate there.

2) When it comes to apartment living, and rentals in particular, tenants may not stay long in a fixed location. Furniture moving is always a hassle, and unfortunately, furniture may end up discarded if tenants don't have the capacity to move it. I've noted wheels on your design which is excellent; however considering how it can be designed for disassembly will also be very useful given your particular market target audience, and in the event of unfortunate disposal rather than reuse.

3) Minor suggestion, but do keep safety and childproofing in mind as well; again, keeping in mind the target audience.

We spend quite a lot of time in research for key considerations for product sustainability at GECA so feel free to contact us if we can be of further assistance!

Good morning UpRising Designers- Congratulations on all the hard work you have done with your MDP, your projects are looking amazing. Some big news to help you get the rest of the way. 

Alliance members will soon be voting on three projects that really resonate with them. There is no set criteria. I will simply ask them to consider all of the projects regardless of the number of likes the project has received and vote for a project that they consider important. 

Last month Good Design Australia joined UpRising and I am very excited to announce that this year’s top three UpRising design students will be invited to attend the Good Design Awards ceremony in September, held at the ICC. 

Alliance members will be asked to nominate their top three projects, awarding 3 points for a design project that resonates with them the most, two points for the next, 1 point for a third project. Points will be tallied and the three students with the highest points invited to attend this year’s Good Design Awards Ceremony.

I ask that before the 30th July you update your post with an image that combines a picture of your early prototype with an image of your finished projects. 

Voting opens Monday 1st August                 

Voting closes Friday 19th August  

Friday 26th August  3 Recipients announced via zoom 

Friday 2nd September Recipients RSVP closes 

Friday 16 September 2022 Good Design Awards Ceremony

On Friday 26th August 4pm I will announce the top three highest scoring Major Design student projects via Zoom with these students invited to attend this year's prestigious Good Design Australia Awards Ceremony on Friday the 16th Sept. The GDA Awards event will be an incredible way for HSC design students to connect with professionals in industry and a great opportunity to give you a seat at the table at the heart of good design here in Australia.

Wishing you all the best with the completion of your MDPs your teachers and families must be very proud of you. 

Hi Niamh, Very relevant and great idea. You should reach out to this business called Recess. https://recess.com.au/

They do a host of office furniture but predominately help help organisations that have employees that have a hybrid set up to ensure their working from home office set up is suitable. It would be worth pitching your idea to them and/or potentially get their thoughts on what organisations are feeding back to them. 

Good luck with it! Edwina

Good morning UpRising Designer

All votes have been tallied and once again very very close between a range of incredible projects. The top three design projects will be announced this Friday afternoon 4pm Zoom

Time: Aug 26, 2022 04:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

Join Zoom Meeting

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Meeting ID: 496 791 8362

Passcode: hau766

Three wonderful young designers will be off to attend this year's Good Design Awards Ceremony, kindly provided by CEO of Good Design Australia, Dr Brandon Gien. This is not only an amazing opportunity for these three students but now creates a direct pathway for the design and innovation industry to reach the grassroots of innovation, the classroom.

Would love to see you there Friday afternoon 4pm

Congratulations to all who took part in this year’s UpRising. If you could spend just 2 minutes completing these three questions that would be heaps tops.  

https://forms.gle/hKybXv5KzibcMhja9

Wishing you all the best on your last exams this week, especially D&T. I am sure you will rock it.

Congrats Niamh on the popularity of your idea!

https://ideaspies.com/posts/the-top-20-ideas-shared-by-ideaspies-2022