Mass customization in the furniture design history
The case of Thonet Chairs
- Name
- Mário Barros
- Year
- 2015
- Institution
- Lisbon School of Architecture Universidade de Lisboa
- Supervisors
- José Pinto Duarte, Bruno Chaparro
- Discipline
- Product Design
- Scope
- Parametric Design
- Taxonomy
- Praxiology/Phenomenology
- Type
- Theoretical/Practical
- Language
- English
- Wordcount / Pagecount
- 101,150 / 289
- Joint supervision
- No
Developing a design model for mass customization in the furniture industry
Research Process (4 methods)
x
Thonet chair case study
Generative Design System to generate Thonet chair variations
Tool testing
| # | Name of Method | Research Phase | Research Approach | Researcher Role | Object of Study / Participants | N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Literature review | Exploratory | Qualitative | x | x | x |
| 2 | Document analysis | Exploratory | Qualitative | x | Thonet chair case study | 1 |
| 3 | Tool development | Generative | Qualitative | Design process | Generative Design System to generate Thonet chair variations | 1 |
| 4 | Virtual Prototyping | Evaluative | Both | x | Tool testing | 1 |
Knowledge Transfer & Exchange
Knowledge Exchange (PhD Process): Produced without exchange
| IK&T | Academia | Design Practice | Society |
|---|---|---|---|
| Context | No | No | No |
| Vision | Yes | Partially | No |
| Means | No | No | No |
Recommendations (8)
Further develop and test the reconfigurable production system for wood bending until full implementation is achieved, aiming at automated manufacturing of custom bentwood components.
- Scope:
- Macro
- Time Horizon:
- Long
- Evidence Strength:
- Indicative
- Feasibility:
- Medium
Assess the shape-evaluation subsystem by comparing simulation results with experimental physical tests on constructed custom chairs, in order to fine-tune the simulation and optimisation properties.
- Scope:
- Macro
- Time Horizon:
- Long
- Evidence Strength:
- Indicative
- Feasibility:
- Medium
Develop frontend applications for end users—such as configurators or innovation toolkits—that support different levels of control, interactivity, and openness during customisation procedures.
- Scope:
- Macro
- Time Horizon:
- Medium → Long
- Evidence Strength:
- Indicative
- Feasibility:
- Medium
Use the grammar-based approach to develop new product types and new sets of functions, including the exploration of generic and specific grammars and the encoding of intrinsic and extrinsic product functions.
- Scope:
- Macro
- Time Horizon:
- Long
- Evidence Strength:
- Exploratory
- Feasibility:
- Medium
Implement information to support all phases of the design process—conceptual, embodiment, detail design, production, manufacturing, and assembly—and formalise it as reusable libraries for future product development.
- Scope:
- Macro
- Time Horizon:
- Long
- Evidence Strength:
- Indicative
- Feasibility:
- Medium
Develop custom-built integrative software capable of seamless integration and reuse of information produced by the different parts of the generative design system.
- Scope:
- Macro
- Time Horizon:
- Long
- Evidence Strength:
- Indicative
- Feasibility:
- Medium
Define multi-objective optimisation problems that combine different design goals—rather than only structural integrity—using weighted objective functions.
- Scope:
- Macro
- Time Horizon:
- Long
- Evidence Strength:
- Exploratory
- Feasibility:
- Medium
Study sustainable reconfigurable tooling systems capable of producing customised designs, with the broader aim of encouraging mass customisation as a new production standard.
- Scope:
- Macro
- Time Horizon:
- Long
- Evidence Strength:
- Exploratory
- Feasibility:
- Medium