We want to thank all those who have participated in this great competition and Congratulate all of those who won! We are looking forward to seeing what’s next from the students at Harrington College of Design!

1st Place Winner’s:

Maki Fujii

Cameron Wudtke

The solution illustrates the many ways the bentwood ottoman can be used as an eating surface. It is thin enough to fit between the seams of each modular unit. As stated before, these modular cushions can be placed in many configurations within the frame, adapting to the needs of busy college students. When eating, college students are typically studying, watching TV., or on their computers.

2nd Place Winners:

Theresa Poulos

Jennifer Sompoloski

3rd Place Winners:

Atousha Arabsheibani

Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical):
Lauren Andrysiak

Goeun Kim

Laura Schlueter

Kevin Scott

Garrett Tershel

Veronica Klemp

&

Chrisopher Orput

As the competition comes to a close we want to thank all who participated in the process and wish luck to all! We are looking forward to the winners which will be announced next week here on YFL.

Javier Argueta

Atousha Arabsheibani

QUATTRO

THE CONCEPT BEHIND QUATTRO SOFA WAS TO DESIGN A FLEXIBLE PIECE OF SEATING THAT COULD BE ARRANGED AND REARRANGED DEPENDING ON THE APPLICATION AND THE SPACE IT’S BEING USED FOR TO GIVE THE OWNER COPLETE  CONTROL AND UNLIMITED  OPTIONS FOR THE CONFIGURATION, SHAPE AND LENGTH.

THE SOFA WITH FOUR SECTIONS AND ENDLESS SELECTION OF MATERIALS AND FINISHES THAT CAN BE STACKED AND PLACED TOGETHER ALTERNATIVELY.  NO MATTER HOW THE PARTS ARE COMBINED THIS TIMELESS FURNITURE ENHANCES EVERY LIVING ROOM, HOTEL LOBBY, ARIPORT LOUNGE AND OFFICE SPACE.

QATTRO MEANS FOUR IN ITALIAN.  THE DESIGN CONTAINING FOUR DIFFERENT PIECES WITH DIFFERENT SHAPES GIVES THE USER THE ABBILITY TO PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER AS THEY WISH AND THEY CAN COME UP WITH THEIR OWN DESIGN AND CONFIGURATION DEPENDING ON THEIR MOOD, THEIR SPACE AND THEY WAY THEY LIKE TO USE THE SOFA.

THE COMPONENTS ARE LIKE PIECES OF A PUZZEL OR LEGO AND THE USER CAN HAVE FUN

PUTTING THEM TOGETHER AND CHANGING THE CONFIGURATIONS.   PIECES CAN BE PUT TOGETHER IN A LINE AND REPRESENT A SIMLPE SOFA OR CAN BE ROTATED AND REPRESENT A L-SHAPED PIECE OF SEATING, CAN BE SEPARATED AND PLACED IN DISTANCE FROM EACH OTHER.  THIS DESIGN CAN BE USED IN ANY SHAPE AND ANY CONFIGURATION THAT THE USER LIKES EXPERIENCE.

THE TABLE DESIGNED FOR THIS PIECE OF SEATING IS VERY SIMPLE AND HAS TWO SECTIONS THAT CAN BE SEPARATED, OR PUT TOGETHER.  LIKE THE SOFA, MORE THAN TOW TABLE PIECES CAN BE PUT TOGETEHR TO HAVE VERIATY IN SIZE AND LENGTH.  IT CAN ALSO BE A PART OF THE  SEATING PIECE AND FUNCTION AS A TABLE.

FINISHES USED FOR THIS DESIGN ARE, UNFINISHED DARK CHERRY WOOD FOR THE TOP AND THE BASE, AND SILK AGED BRONZE COLOR WITH ALLEPEY PATTERN FABRIC FOR THE SEATS.  FINISHES AND FABRICS CAN BE VARIABLE , CUSTOMIZED AND CHANGE DEPENDING ON THE CLIENT’S REQUEST.

Lauren Andrysiak

This week we look at the work of student designer Veronica Palinsky and her final two designs for the competition.

Chair Design

Table Design

Congrats Veronica and good luck on the competition! We are looking forward to seeing the rest of the competition Finals in the next couple of weeks!

More Great work from our Student Designers – Remember to inlude your process work and details when submitting your final designs and good luck!

Tempo by LEANDRA DÍAZ

Eric Hall

Lauren M. Andrysiak

Magin Razo

This week is Final Submission Week for the Seating Part of our two part competition. We have some really great work and are looking forward to the second half of the contest.

Keep up the good work.

Chris Orput

I have designed a wall system that was envisioned to be used in either an efficiency style or studio apartment.  It is roughly 8″ deep, 8′H and 8′W,with a aluminum wall that has horizontal metered tracks whcih are separated every two inches.  The seats are aluminum platforms that are roughly 3.5″ Hx 18″ D and 22″ L. It has a housing/tip at the end of the platform that coincides with the groove of the wall system so it can be slid in place and guarantee a tight fit.  There is a retractable leg which is housed in the outside portion of the seat (meaning away from the wall).  The retractable, hinged leg is roughly 14-1/2″ long when open so with the ht the seat added to this dimension the overall ht. would be 18″.  As mentioned, each horizontal track is spaced 2″ apart vertically, so the seat platform would be placed in the 9th track, so it is 18″ off the floor.  Likewise, the table aluminum platform would be placed in the 15th track so it would be 30″ off the floor.

The aluminum eating surface/table platform is 26″D x 2.5″D x 22″ for a single seating and 42″ for a double seating.  All aluminum platforms have holes cut out on either end so they can be hung behind the moveable aluminum track wall and placed in the “closet” portion of the system.  There are aluminum rails inside the closet that can be moved to any ht. and “S” clips that can be used to hang the seating and table platforms when they are not in use.  The aluminum wall track system is hung from casters that have a locking mechanism so when the wall is in place the wheels can be locked and the system will be stationary.

The closet system would have to be bolted into the wall for safety and functionality purposes. but It designed so the system can be moved whenever its owner vacates his/her space. It can be easily reintstalled as holes have been predrilled in the back of the interior of the closet at 16″ on center.  New holes can be drilled into the back if the stud layout is different in your location.  The seats of the bench platforms would be made out of woven bungee cord material in order to provide added flexible comfort.

Laura Schlueter

Retractable shell to allow for the desired amount of privacy and allow for the piece to be used either as a sofa and provide more casual upright seating when retracted or as a pod like bed when slid all the way down. Ideal for small, city type apartments, and for people in single residency homes/studios.

See Laura’s full presentation by clicking Here

Lauren M. Andrysiak

Click here to see Lauren’s Full Project Submission

Melisa Cwikla

Click here to see full project!

Garrett Tershel

Click here to see full project!

Deidra Castelline

Click here to see full Project!

Veronica Palinsky

Click here to see full project!

Cameron Wudtke

They illustrate the many ways the bentwood ottoman can be used as an eating surface.  It is thin enough to fit between the seams of each modular unit.  As stated before, these modular cushions can be placed in many configurations within the frame, adapting to the needs of busy college students.  When eating, college students are typically studying, watching t.v., or on their computers.

Starting September 18th Your Furniture Link and Harrington College of Design are teaming up to bring you the Eating and Seating Challenge!

Students are going to be able to work one on one with furniture company’s while designing two seating options; one for Eating, a dining set, a chair with a built in tray table, a lounge chair that lets you eat sitting up then has a vacum function built in to suck up the Crumbs when finished? The Students are tested to expand their creativity and design ideas to find the piece that will winn them first place. They will also be designing a Seating option for the living space. That means a sofa, a chair, clever ottomans that double as storage or fold out to become a gueat bed? The choices are endless.

Over the next Twenty Weeks be sure to come and Check out Harrington Fridays for the Students design Process and the Winners of both challenges. First place in both categories receives a $1,000 prize and the chance to have their piece built and sold at auction. Second recieves a check for $500 and third a prize of $300. This is going to be a great competition and we at Your Furniture Link are excited to see the results of the students hard work!

Check out last years contest winners in our Contest and Competitons Page to see more images check out klick_it’s Photostream on Flickr

Your Furniture Link and Harrington College of Design bring you The Seating and Eating Challenge

photo courtesy of ooh_food’s photostream on Flickr

A Furniture Design Competition open to all Harrington College of Design Students, who over the next 16 weeks will be given the opportunity to create new cutting edge furniture designs in Chicago. We at Your Furniture Link in association with Retailers Mig and Tig, Chicago and Mortise and Tenon of Los Angeles, are looking for new trends and ideas and asking you to take a closer look at the  living/family and dining room spaces.

photo courtesy of Apartment Therapy Chicago

We will be posting competitors design progress on our Blog every Friday from now until the contest ends in January of next year. There is a required list of project components including the design images rendered in an interior view, a cataloged list of hardware, finishes, and materials used to create the piece of furniture design. We also require the detailed drawings of each piece designed including dimensions and sections. All information should be attractively compiled and sent to the competition e-mail address which is yfl.design.contest@gmail.com. This is where you will be sending your weekly progress updates. These updates should include one image reflecting the stage you are at in the process of designing the piece. This includes but not limited to, hand sketches, material selections, renderings, wire frame models, pictures of 3-D models built to scale.

Photo Courtesy of Design Right Now

This is a two part competition with the first section geared toward seating and the second toward eating. There will be a First place prize of $1,000 a second place prize of $300 and a third place prize of $200 for each section of the competition. Those who place 4th to 10th place in the competition will also be recognized on the website with honorable mention.

Take a minuet to think, what are the trends: more eating in the living room area or more lounge seating in the dining area? Are we all already eating in our sofas and watching TV? Are you eating in your bed? Is the end of the dining room near or will the dining room be upgraded with more comfortable chairs? What are the other functions we are doing while we are eating? Are we eating alone, or each one of the family different time? Re we sitting down while we are eating?  Do you have communication with family members or guests? Watching TV? Reading Newspaper?  Are you online while you are eating: doing emails, Face book, twitter, YouTube, news or other? What are we eating; fast food from the microwave, take away from the Restaurant, Pizza delivery or a homemade sit down dinner? How often are you using a table cloth, fabric tissue and candle lights? Incorporate the research into you final product.

Great Images and more info from Klick it’s photostream on Flickr

Check back next week for more details and great inspirational images and ideas!