Integrating TO and FEA into Craft-Based Furniture Design Practice
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This thesis investigates how topology optimization (TO) and finite element analysis (FEA) can be integrated into craft-based furniture design practice and addresses the gap between craft, engineering, and design, which are often treated separately. This thesis proposes a hybrid workflow that connects aspects of these three domains into a coherent process, where craft brings material understanding, production knowledge, and judgement, TO and FEA contribute numerical and analytical input, simulation, and optimization, and design mediates and judges in a responsible way. Digital tools are treated as supportive, not autonomous.
The research combines theory, the identification of skills, a survey, and the development of a process workflow diagram. The process is tested through two case studies, a table and a lounge chair, which examine the feasibility of the process, as well as showing benefits and limitations, and can stand as examples of what such a process can look like.
The thesis proposes and evaluates a possible process rather than a universal method. Its contribution lies in showing how craft knowledge and computational tools can be combined in a furniture design process.