A Review on Sustainability Characteristics Development for Wooden Furniture Design

Abstract

The design of furniture products is influenced by increasing consumer interest in green products and sustainability values. However, although the demand for sustainable furniture products is high, the standardization of sustainability characteristics in furniture design has still not been achieved. A thorough literature review was conducted, which considered various sustainability characteristics that apply in industries that design furniture. This review paper aimed to identify common sustainability characteristics so that a new standard for furniture industries can be established. In this review, numerous themes were explored relating to design guidelines, design criteria, design preferences, design optimization, design evaluation and assessment, design decision making, strategic planning, design strategies, the integration of eco-design, and eco-design tools. A total of 137 articles were reviewed regarding their sustainability characteristics according to the triple bottom-line framework for a relevant product sector. Due to the limited reports on the sustainability characteristics of furniture design activities, this paper also tried to include common sustainability characteristics of non-furniture products that are available on the market. Through the review, 10 sustainability characteristics were identified for the environment, 17 for the economy, and 16 for the social dimension as being common among manufacturers when designing their products. A further in-depth analysis was conducted by mapping the characteristics to those that were significantly implemented in the design process, of which five (5) were environmental, two (2) were economic, and five (5) were social sustainability characteristics. This review is significant in helping furniture designers to use appropriate and effective sustainability standards in the design and manufacture of products that meet customers’ demands. Previous literature reviews have not clearly measured the triple bottom line. Furthermore, no definite characteristics were proposed in previous works regarding wooden furniture design, leaving a gap to be closed by future works.