Barriers and opportunities for integrating sustainable product design into Ankara small and medium-sized furniture enterprises

29th International Conference Research for Furniture Industry, Ankara, Türkiye, 19 - 20 Eylül 2019, ss.1-15

Sustainable Product Design (SPD) has become a major field of study in

design since 1990’s. In spite of the fact that literature and terminology is

mostly stated on case studies carried out with large-scale enterprises,

small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a greater share in

employment and manufacturing which are also crucial for social aspects

of sustainability. Furniture enterprises in Ankara are selected for this

study due to the impact of product design in the market as well as the

greater share of employed and consulting designers in the sector. The

study aims to identify understanding of furniture SMEs in Ankara

regarding sustainability. In the study, attitudes of SMEs and design

consultants are explored and compared. As a result, furniture SMEs are

interested in economic outcomes of the sustainable product design

rather than social and environmental aspects and a gap exists in

communication due to the terminology of the field.