”Now we have reached the eighth text we publish to draw attention to, and reflect on, the fact that Healsafe Interiör have for the last ten years worked with the important issue on how interior products can create a safe and healing environment. ”
This is our 8th concept – SAFE FURNITURE – in our series of a total of 10 concepts that we highlight during our 10th anniversary.
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SAFE FURNITURE
Now we have reached the eight text we publish to draw attention to, and reflect on, the fact that Healsafe Interiör have for the last ten years worked with the important issue on how interior products can create a safe and healing environment. When we started designing products for mental health, our work was strongly focused on suicide prevention, not least on interior products that reduce the risk of the extremely tragic event of a person taking their own life.
Our work with the issues of a healing environment gradually developed into more areas such as patient safety, preventing self-harm, staff’s work environment and also how violence and threats can be prevented. The issue of contraband and drugs also made us aware that how we design products can help to control the risk of unwanted substances for the hospitals. About the latter, it is, among other things, about reducing places where drugs can be hidden, but it can also be the case that staff also want to be able to see if a patient, for example with an eating disorder, hides their food, so that patient can get the help they need.
The question, however, is if it is possible that furniture actually can contribute to care being carried out in a safe way for patients and clients, often in compulsory care settings. Security that prevents hiding drugs can for sure contribute, for example, by designing an armchair that has a covered bottom and where the seat does not have a loose cushion or deep pockets where it is easy to hide something. To reduce the risk of threats and violence, furniture can be designed so that it is very difficult to, for example, break off a leg on a chair or remove a shelf in a bookcase. Furthermore, heavy, or very light furniture reduces the risk of injury, it is difficult to throw a piece of furniture that is really heavy, similarly, light weight and soft furniture causes little damage. Fully assembled furniture is also important from a sustainability perspective, their lifespan is significantly longer than “ordinary” furniture for public environments. Safe furniture also means that materials and construction can withstand the risk of fire longer than “ordinary” furniture.
But what can safe furniture mean to create a healing environment? When safety is met and it is integrated into the design, then durability is the most important factor. Through construction and materials, the robustness means that the furniture will have a prolonged lifetime, longer than “ordinary” furniture. Instead of broken and worn furniture, or none, the safe furniture stays there for a long time and creates comfort, security, and a healing environment.
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