Applying Design Thinking on Children Furniture Design Based on Rote NTT Culture

Abstract

Inspiration has always played an important role in the design process, and today culture is an important element in enhancing product attractiveness and identity in the global marketplace. The paper aims to describe how ancient cultural artifacts from Rote, East Nusa Tenggara part of Indonesia, become the inspiration for design activities through the design thinking process. Rote is currently under development and needs to preserve its cultural value. The furniture is designed for Lentera Harapan School Furniture, the design vision is to educate young children about Rote's cultural heritage. Based on Stanford Design Thinking, this study explores the prospect of developing traditional culture, and made them into inspiration in ideation. The design thinking process begins with empathize process by identifying key elements of Rote culture through interviews and observations. Then followed by defining the cultural elements to be used in the next stage, which is ideation process. The best ideas are being prototyped and tested. The results of the study are children's furniture designed for LSH Rote's school, which incorporates local culture values, and through a design thinking iterative process, furniture waste materials are used to make children's educational toys about the Rote cultural icon.