Justine Orbovic
Blockstol
How might we create better sitting for office workers now working from home due to the pandemic, when homes are getting smaller?
Creating better sitting for home office workers.
From quick ergonomic research, numerous documents indicate that it is not healthy to stay in one position for too long, yet many ergonomic professional work setups do not address movement whatsoever. From interviews, it has been shown that people who moved positions the most experience less pain points than those who stayed in only one position for extended periods.
Homes are trending towards being made smaller than in the past, which limits the amount of space people have their own offices, thus needing their “office” to also be their kitchen tables or living rooms. This requires furniture that can be more adaptable to a living space.
Insight
Most people who were interviewed struggled with comfort; their chair rapidly became uncomfortable, they had a hard time creating a work and home balance, and some health problems resulted from generic office chairs that are not adjustable. Only a few elements are adjustable to a certain degree, leaving most users with chairs that are not well-fit to their bodies specifically. Most users ended up changing their position from the traditional ergonomic sitting position, and also had difficulty navigating workstations as well as creating a personal space for their new office set up. Overall, most people are unsatisfied with their office chairs.
Idea
Can chairs be made comfortable for long periods of time without making the users fall asleep?
What makes a chair more comfortable and is there a perfect sitting position?The perfect sitting position does not exist because the body is not meant to be in only one position for a long period of time. I intend to create a chair that lets users move freely from one position to another without having to stand up to adjust the chair, and fits better to many different bodies.
Impact
Blockstol helps people with comfort while they are working from home. Blockstol is an office chair that can be used not only in an office setting but also wherever users want to sit at home. Home office workers working from home who live in small condos where space is limited can use Blockstol as an office chair as well as a regular home chair when their workday is over.
Biography
Justine Orbovic has a previous degree in theatre and was interested in set design but wanted to learn more about design and fabrication. This led her to study industrial design at OCAD where she learned to work with materials and how to problem solve. A curiosity and fascination about furniture lead her to complete a minor in Furniture.Designing for people is important and is the root of her work. Some of Justine’s design inspiration is to find solutions to everyday problems, as well as creating products that fit people, so people do not have to work around the product.Justine’s slogan when it comes to life and their work is “minimum efforts, maximum results”.