Nest is a wood-constructed sofa designed to be a meaningful object that connects and empowers people. Its purpose is to bring regional sofa and bed manufacturers from Flanders together with expert caretakers of our local society.
Based on the design strategy of participatory design, Master Studio FTS, the heads of managing the local asylum centre, Heusden-Zolder, and their guests experimented, invented, designed, and realized the first edition of Nest.
"Through Nest, we intended to create a physical link between manufacturer and end-user, creating a meaningful object that serves a care-full purpose."
We believe that future sofa and bed manufacturers can develop high-end, ecological and social furniture that symbolizes cover, care and security for all as a fundamental right.
Nest is easily (dis)assembled and aims to create safety and cover for its users. Offering a place to be privately comforted, Nest tries to intuitively encourage hiding, playing and snuggling (with others).
Purposely selecting the design principle design for disassembly, the sofa is an example of the incorporated circular economy. Through a leasing system, Nest can be rented by regional (care) centres and used for a preregistered period. The sofa is easily disassembled and repaired when broken, to sustain and lengthen the product's lifetime. Including all individual parts that can be bought individually, local guests can fix first-hand ruptures and improve their creative skills.
By choosing recyclable and reusable material resources, the end-of-life product can be retrieved by the owner's manufacturer and reproduced into new high-end prototypes.
This project has been put together for the well-known sofa manufacturers Indera and Veldeman Bedding based in Belgium as a 2025 vision of the industry's future.
- Dedicated to my grandfather Gustaaf Matthijs
