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Benjamin Vermeulen's Flatpack Magnetic Assisted Geometry Furniture

By Rain Noe - December 23, 2013

in Furniture Design

Confession: When I meet people who find IKEA furniture difficult to assemble, I write them off as idiots. I told this to my girlfriend (also an industrial designer) and she concurred; I don't know if it's because we ID'ers are trained to read drawings and put things together, but we both find the instructions exceedingly simple, the assembly straightforward and unchallenging.

Still, it seems a lot of people actually have trouble driving screws and nails. And for these folks, designer and Eindhoven grad Benjamin Vermeulen has a clever solution in his flatpack, no-tools-required Magnetic Assisted Geometry furniture line:

Shipping furniture unassembled is more economical and more environmentally friendly. But flat-packed furniture is often made from low-grade material and its assembly is far from straightforward. Assembling 'MAG' (Magnetic Assisted Geometry) furniture is easy, takes minutes, and requires no tools.

The furniture, made from high-quality steel and wood, snaps together with the help of powerful magnets. It can be assembled and disassembled without losing its initial structural integrity. This means you can take it apart if you are moving or selling it on. And replacing parts is easy since they come right off and reattach with the same ease.

Regular Core77 readers will remember we've seen something similar before: The BARkwadraat table designed by Eveline Pieters' Green Tuna Design brand and Joene Verschuren. But whereas Pieters' and Verschuren's creation was created from scraps and cut-offs (which I kinda dug), Vermeulen's MAG line is purpose-built from raw stock. Also, the BARKwadraat website, sadly, has not been updated since we first wrote about it a couple of years ago, so it's possible they've gone belly up.

Back to the IKEA thing—you guys think I'm being too harsh, or do you all secretly think the same thing?

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edward

10 years ago

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if you have to use the instructions for IKEA furn. , then I think you are an idiot.
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Someone

10 years ago

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lol. Innovation? Design? - I have furniture, which is much more than 100 years old and it needs no screws and even no goddamn magnets, which may destroy something. And my furniture won't fall apart. No way! - OMG, design-hipsters nowadays... ;-)
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bubbleburster

11 years ago

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Nils Holger Moorman uses hidden magnetic connectors in his furniture for several years now. Also they come flat packed.
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Richard

11 years ago

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although the concept kind of works, the people who designed this have clearly never worked with magnets in a production sense.

Firstly, for this to be a reasonable competitor to Ikea it must be made in China and put in a small box. Putting things with magnets in a box is a nightmare. The parts will try and join up (notice how when they start out all the pieces are neatly spaced out) and will be difficult to pack tightly in a small box. On the factory floor, when you are dealing with hundreds of components, you will spend hours just trying to separate and handle parts in the factory, let alone just trying to break off a magnet from the block of hundreds from the supplier. Lets see people who are unable read instructions, try and separate out of a box and not scratch the hell out of the powder-coat.

The other reason is a little more subtle, trying to move magnets between factories is expensive (no airfreight unless you have an expensive permit) and time consuming. It is possible to source magnets for China to China but it is difficult, and importing will incur heavy import tax.

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greg

11 years ago

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a while back i assembled an ikea cabinet for a couple pretty ladies. took maybe 15 minutes. when i told them i was done, they were stunned. apparently they assembled one a day ago, it took them 2 hours and a large bottle of wine.
it was probably the wine that slowed them down, but still...
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Shaun

11 years ago

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Ikea's superficial regard for consumers has risen over the years. I think their liberal return policy has paid dividends for consumers as there were defiantly some items that were very very difficult to assemble and once assembles were very flimsy. I know I returned some items that had too high a parts count or were simply junk from the get go, and I know I was not alone. The Ikea business model is build on pushing assembly labor out on consumers, and losing consumers in a manipulative and immersive environment in the same manner as casino designers. So I certainly understand if some consumers chaff at the assembly 'experience' of the more poorly designed items.
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lx

11 years ago

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designing for the mass furniture market the last decade I can attest to the fact that americans do not like assembling KD/RTA furniture. euros on the other hand are okay with it-if not love it. using magnets sound innovative, but not sure if it will pass QA/testing for US mkt. that skinny hipster looks fine sitting on the chair, but will a 200# american be alright on it. what about shearing stress on the magnet points?
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Gabriel

11 years ago

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I was just telling some coworkers of mine the same thing. I never understood why people find Ikea-like stuff so difficult. It can be tedious, and if you only use a plain screwdriver instead of a drill you'll be in for some wrist and hand pain, but it's certainly not that complex, and the instructions are pretty good. Not sure how the price point would come in for magnet flat pack furniture, and would a person still be willing to assemble it themselves for such a high price premium.
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thomas

11 years ago

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Mmh magnets are quite expensive...so using them just to assemble the piece of furniture...well it seems like overkill.
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Ryan

11 years ago

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I had a job for a little while putting together the furniture people ordered from ikea.

I think people just don't want to bother to put in the minimal time and effort with the assembly. I suppose they feel they bought a piece of furniture , not an erector set for adults.

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