Patents Illustrate the Aesthetics and Wisdom of Taiwan Furniture Design

As Taiwanese furniture makers seek to build a reputation in the market with their own brand names, their weapon of choice for adding value to their products is patents. A number of companies, after years of struggle, have launched products incorporating their own patented designs, and a number of them showed off their achievements in the “ROC Centennial Celebration: Taiwan Furniture Retrospection” pavilion at the 2011 Taipei International in March.

The Formosa Design Center, which dates back to 1981 with the establishment of its forerunner, Cheng Sheng Furniture, provides a striking example of the transformation from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to a supplier of products sporting its own patented designs. Its Violin Diving Root Set, for instance, won a patent for its special violin-shaped seat back. According to the firm's publicity materials, “The relaxed artistic ambience generated by the dining room set would make people value the time for eating together.”

The Violin Dining Room Set was launched in 1999 with a patented inner steel structure, hidden inside the solid wooden frame and cushion, which prevents the seat back from deforming. The seat back also has an extra part projecting from the top that provides a rest for the user's heads and a handle for moving the chair.

The Formosa Design Center has transformed itself from a manufacturer to a design company that provides full-package solutions for interior design, complemented by its furniture design and hardwood processing capabilities. The company has obtained a number of patents for appearance and functional designs.

Another patented product in the firm's dining room line is a chair shaped like a ballet dancer, with a seat back featuring the image of a dancing girl's head and extended arms that serve as the frame of the upper seat back. The chair's legs are shaped like ballet dancers' legs. According to the promotional material, “While enjoying the meal at table, people could feel the atmosphere of enjoying the ballet performance at a concert.” The patent covers the chair's delicate structural design, in which every angle is deliberately proportioned to present the elegant artistic image of a ballet dancer.

Furniture designed by the Formosa Design Center is distinguished by the mixing of modern Western ingredients into Oriental hardwood furniture. The Perugia Series, for example, is inspired by the style of an Italian hill town, generating a relaxing ambiance in items that exhibit the aesthetics of Oriental hardwood furniture.

Practical Value
Show Each Industry, a K/D metal furniture manufacturer and exporter since 1978, is known for its innovative design as well as its production capability. In 2008 the company introduced a portable table and chair set that incorporated patents from both Taiwan and mainland China. With an innovative structure connecting the chair and table in one piece, the set is easy to fold, saving space when not in use, and convenient to carry.

The set has a metal tubing frame, PU seat pad, wooden boards, and swinging footrest pedals on the two sides of the lower frame so that users can relax their feet while seated. The company claims that it can even be used as a sort of indoor exercise device.

An elastic office chair launched by Chia Chi Ya Enterprises in 2010 earned patents for its special structure, with a tilt control to ensure smooth pneumatic seat-height adjustment and heavy-duty carpet casters for smooth moving. Elastic bands on the seat and back provide maximum seating comfort while being breathable.

Operating under the motto “Adding flexibility to your working space,” Chia Chi Ya has launched a variety of office chairs with ergonomic designs that have won patents from Taiwan, Japan, the U.S., Germany, and mainland China. The company, which dates back to a predecessor that was established in 1987 as a metal tubing processor, began designing and producing office chairs in 1997. Today it is one of Taiwan's leading suppliers of office chairs, leisure chairs, and computer chairs.

The Ferrari Table developed by the Shinbee Furniture Co. won patents for its adjustable table legs with wheeled feet that mimic a sports-car image. Users can easily move the table by lifting its surface 15 degrees, and an air-lift device makes the height simple to adjust.

The Soflex Furniture Industry Co. was established in 1976 to develop and produce superior upholstered furniture with unique styles. The patented S0601 sofa that it manufactures is the product of a cooperative project with the prominent Swedish designer Dan Ihreborn of the Legend Life group. The sofa has a creative adjustable side cushion that can be positioned vertically to serve as an arm or horizontally to provide seating space, making the product a four-person sofa that can be extended to seat six. The side cushion can also be tilted to an angle of about 45 degrees for use as a pillow. A covered space under the seat provides storage. Ever since its launch in 2006, the S0601 has been one of the company's best sellers.

Shin Lee Wood Products, a veteran wooden furniture maker established in 1955, earned a patent for its one-piece bent-wood seat back, an item that requires sophisticated wood-processing methods to produce. The one-piece design provides extra support while giving the chair a simple and sleek appearance.

The Kaohsiung-based Shin Lee claims to be the first company in southern Taiwan to make wooden furniture for export to the U.S. Its first shipment went there in 1961, and the firm has been a major supplier of such furniture series as Cherry Garden, Amish Highlands, and Country Hickory Bedroom to the North American market ever since.