Department of Furniture Design of the Faculty of Wood Technology of Poznan University of Life Sciences is a leading scientific unit providing knowledge and education in wide range of subjects connected with furniture design and furniture industry.
It represents an unique combination of design and engineering skills, with the focus on ergonomics, construction and technology of furniture. Our main competencies are design and construction of furniture and wooden interior elements (e.g. stairs, panels), technology of all kinds of furniture, optimization of production processes and furniture construction, strength investigation of materials and joints used in designed and produced furniture. Moreover we deal with the analysis of furniture construction using Finite Elements Method and introduction of integrated informatics systems into furniture industry. We provide also safety and strength investigations of furniture in specialist laboratory as well as safety and reliability investigations of furniture construction and furniture joints. The important area of our research activities are investigations concerning users’ needs, preferences and problems they face while using furniture. This is crucial when designing furniture aimed at raising the comfort of living of various target groups of users. The research on new materials to be used in furniture constitute a significant aspect of our work. The above investigations are to deliver sources of information essential when designing new products and are of crucial importance for practitioners, enabling them to increase the competitiveness of their offer. In the range of national and international projects we successfully transfer the scientific knowledge and innovation into furniture industry, which can be seen in the number of achieved patents already registered.
Dr. Beata Fabisiak – project manager of the BaltSe@nioR. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in the Faculty of Architecture and Design and the Academy of Economics in Poznań, Faculty of Management. During her studies, she received a scholarship at the Instituto Superior de Ciencias do Trabalho e da Empresa in Lisbon. She defeated her Ph.D. Thesis at Poznan University of Life Sciences in the field of design management in furniture companies. She was a leading researcher in StarDust of the Baltic Sea Region Programme concerning Comfort in Living for Elderly People. She is involved in design and furniture design, functional, ergonomics and aesthetic features of furniture as well as issues related to the management of design in the furniture companies. She is the author or co-author of over 40 scientific publications and has participated in several international and national projects. She leads polish and international workshops for representatives of the furniture industry and students. She is a certified moderator of Design Thinking. She uses this method successfully while working both with Polish and foreign groups. Her main scientific interest concerns the possibilities of increasing comfort of living by providing design solutions adopted to physical and psychological needs of users.
Beata Fabisiak
beata.fabisiak@up.poznan.pl
tel. +48 61 8487475
Department of Furniture Design
Faculty of Wood Technology
Poznan University of Life Sciences
Wojska Polskiego 28
60-637 Poznań