I Wanted To Help Families Who Live In Small Homes, So I Created A Changing Table, That Easily Transforms Into A Desk

I studied engineering and for my master thesis I wanted to create something that would benefit people. So I combined my passion for helping others with my interest in furniture design and created the project with the catchy name "Development of furniture concepts for families with small children".

When I started the project, I had no idea what I would make or what my focus should be, except for two things: The families I interviewed had to live in small places and I had to minimize the environmental impact from my design. I found a small furniture company in Copenhagen who was interested in my project because the owner saw the same issues in the market.

I spent five months on the project. In the first phase I interviewed different families and analysed the results - then I started on the idea generation, which I did as a mix of co-creation with the families, the company I teamed up with and discussions with friends and family. Finally, I decided to work on the changing table that could turn into a desk.

I found that most of the families wanted a desk, but mostly used the dining table because it saved. At the same time people got rid of their "baby furniture" quickly, partly because of the designs and partly because of the singular functionality of the furniture. So I combined them into one piece of furniture that would fit into the kitchen, the living room or the bedroom.

I spent hour after hour on optimising the hinge to provide as much storage in the table as possible, and I used the opinions from the families to decide on the type of shelves, the size of them and the possibility of moving them up and down. The changing mat is enclosed by a "frame", bent in on piece of plywood and has a special design, so that dirt will not reach the tabletop.

The result of the project is shown below. I want to thank my father for helping me build the prototype. I also want to thank my sweet friend Sandra for letting me use the pictures of her daughter on the table.