product design and technology

amos jericho

Recently, a family living within suburban Northcote renovated and extended their traditional Edwardian house. The renovation involved knocking down the rear half of the house and installing a modern, unique and open planned, kitchen and dining space. This new open planned space acts as a communal, friendly eating and living space filled with natural light, with large windows. In the wake of this renovation, this growing Family are in need of a solution to where the family can sit and enjoy meals together. Their current dining room table is extremely wobbly as the supporting legs are loose. In addition, the table is too low and does not allow users’ legs to fit comfortably underneath the table without scraping the knees. The table is also not sealed meaning that any beverages stain the table making it prone to cup and plate marks (rings). Along with the new modern house design, the table also clashes with this new living space; the table seems outdated and juxtaposes the feel of this new modern living room, therefore the new table should make use of modern technologies in order to replicate the new living space.

Along with the new renovation, the family recently welcomed a newborn to the family. The current table is not highchair friendly (as it is too low) as well as it is extremely hard to clean up the mess infants make. A new table will need to fix both these problems. This new dining room table will need to provide a comfortable space to serve its multiple purposes of family meals, studying, working, reading as well as sometimes being a place to store bags. The table will be pushed up against the wall during everyday life in order to remain out of the thoroughfare and sit 4 people easily in this position. However, when pulled out from the wall, the table must need to fit more guests and seat 6 comfortably and 8 people at a push. This new table must need to reflect the modern, open plan, light space of the new renovation.  The family have taken quite a liking to concrete being used as a material in the table (especially concrete when polished and properly finished with wax etc.). This is because this material is extremely durable, easy to clean and eliminates the current need for placemats and coasters. The family also would like concrete to be used creatively with a hardwood as the new renovation utilises the use of wood throughout. Doing so, would also help the new table reflect the style of the new renovation.

The family are also sustainably conscious and would like the production to be conducted in an environmentally friendly way.. This new table must also be economically friendly as after the recent renovation the budget was stretched and would like to save money; however, the price should not undermine the final quality of the table. Finally, the table should be original work in order to avoid any legal considerations.