ÉCAL graduate Yesul Jang has designed a bed with storage capacity for millennials with limited space in urban dwellings.
Called Tiny Home Bed, the furniture piece features a raised bed with a storage space under the mattress, which is covered by a fabric curtain.
The project is designed for students and young people in shared accommodation and compact living conditions.
"Today, the number of people living in small dwellings is increasing due to limited housing capacity in urban spaces. I have focused my project on the development of a storage bed for compact living," said Jang, who studied on the University's MA Product Design programme.
"My objective was to develop a bed that was not only practical but also simple and atheistically attractive because most of the space-saving furniture in the current market is quite massive and focuses on functional features such as foldable or transformable furniture," she explained.
Jang centred her design around a "light and simple" storage bed, which she made out of wood and fabric.
"One of the main tasks was to build a light and yet stable structure made of wood frame and fabric, which allows easy shipping and construction," she said.
Afterwards, the designer applied a track system with a polyester curtain along the top of the bed frame to allow users access to the storage space from any given point.
When conceiving the project, Jang was inspired by the rise of the single person household and number of young people living in shared flats. Her research revealed that the percentage of single person households doubled between 2006 and 2016 in her native Seoul.
"I designed space saving furniture because that's what people need in the current market. By analysing social trends, I built furniture that allows people to live comfortably," she said.
"By combining two furniture items – a bed and storage – which take up the biggest amount of the space in the living environment, people benefit from more space that they can utilise for other purposes."
An increasing number of designers are creating products suited to single person households.
Royal College of Art graduate Seray Ozdemir has created a collection of furniture for corridors, aimed at young people who live in homes without communal living rooms, while Yu Li has designed a portable kitchen for millennials with limited kitchen space in shared homes.