2006 Volume 11 Issue 1 Pages 46-51
This product was jointly developed with Daido Kogyo Co., Ltd. (Ishikawa Prefecture) between May 2003 and December 2004. The company, a pioneer in the manufacture of chair type stair lifts, has captured the largest share of the market. However, with big gains being achieved by other companies over recent years, they have decided to introduce a design to strengthen the edge they enjoy in market share. Market research has clarified the fact that most of the products currently on the market are designed so as to give the impression as if they are pieces of machinery equipped with office chairs. We feel that a product used at home by elderly and physically handicapped people should be more like household furniture than a piece of machinery. For this reason we decided on a development concept which may be described as "furniture instead of machinery." Through a collaboration between design and technology, we have succeeded in developing a product which can be folded to a size smaller than any other in the world, and which is the first ever to be equipped with a plywood chair. This product, which won the "Good Design Award 2004" and earned high ratings at the International Welfare Equipment and Device Fair in the same year, was commercialized in January 2005.
