Accordion Qenepeya Modular

Press Kit

Unique Properties

This is a modular sofa. What sets it apart from most modular sofas is that it uses a single base module capable of changing size and shape to create endless sofa configurations. Additionally, it can be compressed for flat-pack packaging, making it easy to carry while also reducing packaging, storage, and transportation costs.

Dimensions & Packaging

The sofa dimensions are W890*D1150*H700mm.Since the main body of the sofa is made of high-resilience compressible foam, it is volume can be significantly reduced through mechanical compression during packaging. The flat dimensions of the sofa are W230*D1150*H700mm. It’s only 2/5 of the sofa.This reduction lowers the costs associated with packaging, warehousing, and logistics. It also can be easily placed in a shopping cart or carried on the back.

Tags

Modular sofa, Transformable sofa, Flat-packing, Portable sofa, Playful sofa, Tool-free assembly, Sofa for all spaces, Sofa for all spaces

Production Technology

The sofa is made of high-resilience compressible foam, and the wooden side panels on both sides are connected by durable climbing ropes and adjustable knobs. By rotating the knobs we can pull the internal ropes tight, the side panels can compress the sofa and achieve shape changes and size changes.

Design Challenge

The most challenging part of this project was designing a simple mechanism to adjust the sofa's shape. There are almost no sofas on the market that can change their form through compression, leaving us with no existing examples to reference. As a result, we researched compression structures across various fields and ultimately found inspiration for the sofa's compression mechanism in industrial machinery. We then created a simple prototype to verify its feasibility.

Research

Our research is aimed at the furniture market, and we hope to get an innovative sofa product through our project. We Collected information through our e-commerce department, including user’s evaluation, Logistics distribution evaluation and other multi-angle information. We have identified several issues with many current sofa products, such as excessive specifications, difficulty in selection, large size, transportation challenges, and the inability to adapt to various spatial layouts. To address these market problems, we designed this sofa.

Inspiration

The design of the accordion sofa is inspired by the dynamic changes of the bellows during an accordion performance. This gave me an idea: if a sofa's base module could be compressed to change its shape, just like an accordion bellows, then this transformable module could be combined into endless sofa configurations. This would minimize the number of sofa specifications needed.

Project Duration

The project started in December 2024 in Hangzhou and it is scheduled to be completed by July 2025,and available for sale in October 2025.

Operation Flow

The three knobs on the side of the sofa are located at the top of the backrest, the bottom of the backrest, and the front of the seat cushion. Rotating the different knobs tightens the durable outdoor ropes inside the sofa at those positions, pulling the side wooden panels closer together. As the panels compress the sofa, different shapes are achieved. The knob design features clear and intuitive patterns, making it very easy to operate. Two sofas can be connected using the knobs and the wooden holes on the opposite side, much like Lego bricks.