Modular Chesterfield, a rethinking

Where do sofas go after use, and why?

The sofa industry still operates through a linear value chain, where products are manufactured, shipped, used, and often discarded at end of life. Because sofas are typically built with glue, staples, and mixed materials, blocking disassembly and reparability local recycling infrastructures cannot separate the components efficiently, which pushes many items toward landfill or incineration.

The findings, from site visits.

The site visits revealed how deeply the sofa industry is shaped by a globalized production model, where design, development, manufacturing, and sales are distributed across different countries. In both the factory context and the industry interviews, it became clear that production is guided by cost, speed, and scale, while sustainability is often treated as a secondary concern. The Chesterfield’s construction also showed how staples, glue, and mixed materials create a product that is difficult to separate, repair, or recover at end of life.

The visits and interviews confirmed the dominance of a globalized value chain, but they also showed that an EU-based supply chain model exists and is being used by some producers.

Strategic Design Proposal

A modular Chesterfield sofa designed for disassembly, using no staples or glue, so it can be repaired, replaced, and recovered over time. Through an assembly system that shifts sequence, approach, and mindset without disrupting existing manufacturing logic and infrastructure, the proposal offers a blueprint for wider industry application on three levels,

system / space / object