Patchwork aims to improve the quality of life for people living in environments which require cohabitation. As the homeless and refugee populations continue to rise, crowded shelters must house multiple people in a shared room, leaving little to no privacy. This concept prompted Italian designers Giulia Pesce and Ruggero Bastita to devise a temporary solution.
Patchwork is a flexible partition that can be customized as the user wishes. The portable blockade can be maneuvered to provide more privacy while the individual sleeps, changes or simply relaxes. The device also provides amenities like hooks, mirrors and shelves, offering a much needed flexible personal space that can be altered to cater to the individual's needs.
The user-friendly and cost-effective design helps bring personality and comfort into places that house people who need it the most.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Customizable Room Dividers
- Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Develop modular room dividers that can be easily customized and adapted to meet the privacy needs of cohabitating individuals.
- Flexible Partitions
- Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Create portable partitions that can be easily adjusted to provide privacy and personal space in crowded shelters, temporary housing, or shared rooms.
- User-friendly Design
- Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Design cost-effective room dividers that offer amenities like hooks, mirrors, and shelves, improving the quality of life for individuals in shared living environments.
Where This Applies
- Interior Design
- Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Explore the use of customizable room dividers as a solution to privacy issues in cohabitation settings, such as crowded shelters, temporary housing, or shared rooms.
- Furniture Manufacturing
- Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Develop flexible partitions that can be mass-produced and easily distributed to provide privacy and personal space in various cohabitation settings.
- Social Housing
- Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Implement user-friendly room dividers in social housing projects to improve the living conditions and privacy of individuals in shared living environments.
