Trend observation × Guanmei: Under the aging population, "aging" furniture will usher in a golden period of development
Under the new development pattern, in line with the times, grasp the future development trend of the industry, and help the home furnishing industry to achieve a higher level of development, China National Expo (Guangzhou) has been striving to empower the industry and enterprises.
Accordingly, China International Expo (Guangzhou) has specially created a column of "Looking ahead of big names and trend observation", focusing on the current pioneer brands in the home furnishing industry, focusing on pan-home furnishing industry analysis, trend forecasting, and revealing the development path, and strives to conduct in-depth brand dialogues. , discover new vents, and look for new explosions.
After the release of the seventh census data, my country's population aging has further deepened. It is estimated that by the middle of this century, China's elderly population will exceed 400 million, and there will be one elderly person in every three people.
Population aging has become the basic national condition of our country. Actively responding to population aging and developing suitable aging design is an important proposition faced by the whole society. For furniture companies, aging has also brought some opportunities, and the demand for aging-friendly furniture in the whole society is exploding.
Guanmei, a high-end commercial space customization expert, keeps pace with the times, adjusts its product structure, and accelerates the layout of suitable for the elderly - this is a sunrise industry, and before the arrival of the spring of suitable for the elderly, those enterprises that have laid out in advance Undoubtedly the first to enjoy the bonus period.
The 49th China International Expo (Guangzhou) will be held in March 2022. CIFF, together with 77 Degrees, conducted a pre-exhibition interview with Mr. Zhao Bo, general manager of Guanmei Furniture Marketing. In the face of changes in market demand, how will Guanmei respond? Facing the special group of the elderly, how will Guanmei integrate humanistic care into furniture design?
In recent years, the aging population in my country has been increasing and accelerating. According to the seventh census, the population over the age of 65 has reached 190.64 million in 2020, with a year-on-year growth rate of 8.3%, far exceeding the 3.5% in 2012. In 2022, the proportion of elderly people aged 65 and above in China will exceed 14%, which means that my country is about to enter a "deeply aging society".
The national "12th Five-Year Plan" outline for the first time proposed the "9037" pension pattern. 90% of the elderly care for the elderly through family care, 7% through community care services, and 3% through institutions. It can be seen that home-based care is a strategic choice to deal with population aging.
Compared with middle-aged people, the elderly do not need to go to work and have a lot of free time. Compared with young people, elderly people who have worked for decades have relatively rich savings in their hands. This also allows the elderly to pursue a richer spiritual and material life, especially in terms of health and tourism. The elderly group contains a huge consumer market.
At present, Guanmei's aging-friendly furniture products are divided into two aspects: the first is the design of high-end elderly care products; the second is the aging-friendly design of conventional furniture products. Guanmei considers the needs of the elderly from the details, and improves the quality of life of the elderly through the transformation of products.
Mr. Zhao Bo said frankly, "It is a social ethics and an industry responsibility to do a good job of 'furniture for the elderly'. When people reach old age or after retirement, they will focus on home care, whether it is home care or community care, the elderly and furniture. It can be regarded as companionship.” Therefore, Guanmei analyzes the psychological needs and application scenarios of the elderly based on the actual needs of the elderly, so that the aging-friendly furniture is not only homely, but also functional and practical. This not only meets the needs of the elderly, but also opens up a wider market and achieves a win-win situation.
Studies have shown that with age, the decline of the elderly is mainly divided into two categories: one is physiological changes, and the other is psychological changes.
In terms of sensory function, with the increase of age, the human eye tissue structure will gradually appear a series of aging symptoms such as physiological presbyopia, color vision degradation, and narrowing of the visual field. "In view of this feature, Guanmei's color matching in furniture design avoids the strong color contrast on the surface of the product, and brings sensory comfort to the elderly."
In terms of motor function, the muscle strength and respiratory function of the elderly will be reduced, the body movements will become slow, and the reaction speed will be weakened, which is prone to unexpected dangers. Therefore, Guanmei designed ergonomic home products for the elderly by lowering the work table, lowering the touch height, and the height of the seat and work platform must be adjustable.
In terms of emotional characteristics, because most of their children are busy with work, the elderly often live alone, and their emotional characteristics are often manifested as loneliness and nostalgia, and they seek psychological balance and stability. Based on this consideration, Guanmei is invisible to the aging of furniture, so that the elderly feel equal treatment. Comfort is not only sensory comfort, but also psychological comfort.
As older adults age, there are potential demands on their daily activities. These needs are hidden and difficult to detect in a specific limited space and time. Therefore, Mr. Zhao Bo believes that to improve the design of suitable elderly furniture, it is not entirely dependent on technical problems, but also pay attention to the psychology of the elderly and fully tap the potential needs of the elderly.
"The physical and psychological changes of the elderly are mutually influenced. The decline of physiological functions will lead to the decline of self-care ability, which in turn affects the mental health of the elderly. The design of age-appropriate furniture focuses on the daily habits and psychological feelings of the elderly."
Mr. Zhao Bo said that their product design starts from the principle of accessibility and comfort, and fully considers the degradation of the elderly's body, so that the size of the furniture suitable for the elderly is in line with the human body size of the elderly and is convenient for the elderly to use, while excluding safety. hidden dangers to prevent accidents.
In terms of accessibility principles, safety and convenience are two important aspects. Due to the reduced flexibility of the elderly's body and the aging of the knee joint and spine function, there will be a certain impact at the last moment of sitting and lying down. Therefore, the furniture needs to have strong stability to support the weight of the elderly.
In terms of the primary color of comfort, it is mainly reflected in the aspects of comfortable touch, comfortable maintenance, and comfortable use. Therefore, the design of Guanmei's products for the elderly involves materials, structures, details and other elements, and uses natural and environmentally friendly materials that are skin-friendly and have no thorns, and so on.
The elderly group is receiving more and more attention from all walks of life. How to focus on the safety, comfort, operability and accessibility of furniture, to pay attention to the psychological characteristics of the elderly, and to reflect the humanistic care of furniture products, designers also have long way to go. However, the development of science and technology and the active development of the aging-friendly furniture market have prepared and laid the foundation for the environment that our country will face in the future, so that the elderly will be more secure in their later years.
In the home care model, the comfort and safety of furniture is an important factor affecting the quality of elderly care. The rational design of furniture suitable for the elderly can not only provide support for the elderly to complete an independent life, but also use furniture to improve their physical function. In order to enhance the self-confidence and improve the quality of life of the elderly.
Mr. Zhao Bo believes that, driven by the aging of the population and the upgrading of living standards, the aging-friendly furniture industry is expected to usher in a golden period of development.
"Guanmei has been cultivating deeply in China for 29 years. We have a database to record a large number of customers' usage habits and behavior habits. At the same time, our company's cooperation models are relatively diversified, including cooperation on special products and exchanges of talents, from design to After landing, we have a complete set of systems, and I believe we can do a good job of aging-friendly furniture." With the help of the platform of China International Expo (Guangzhou), Guanmei hopes to attract more people to pay attention to aging-friendly furniture and make up for aging-friendly furniture together. The short board of furniture.
"The needs of the elderly are complex and variable, and there are also differences in regions, living habits, and living environments. With the continuous deepening and popularization of intelligent technology, the combination of furniture and intelligent medical care in the home care model will be the future. The development direction of suitable old furniture.”
