Furniture art: the historical experience of combined multifunctional objects creation

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to highlight the historical experience of creating combined multifunctional furniture-transformers and to reveal the main methods of combining several functions in one object of furniture art. The methodology of this work is based on the application of a number of theoretical methods of scientific research: analysis, comparison, analogy, abstraction, and generalization. Methods of analysis and comparison were used in the process of considering the evolution of furniture-transformers on the example of historical prototypes. The comparison of artistic means of surface treatment features of structural elements and characteristics of shaping allowed identifying some historical examples of furniture-transformers that were found in the electronic network without specifying the date or country of manufacture. To identify the main methods of combined furniture-transformers formation have been applied such research methods use analogy and abstraction. To summarize the results of the work it was used the generalization method. The scientific novelty of the work consists in summarizing the historical experience of combined multifunctional furniture creation and defining the leading methods of combined objects formation. Conclusions: the results of the research support the idea that in furniture art the main methods of the combination of several functions in one subject are: 1) the implementation of additional small functional blocks in a large-scale object; 2) the equal combination of two utilitarian objects in one object; 3) the multiple combinations of equivalent functional blocks into a single form.

Key words: furniture art, furniture-transformers, historical prototypes of furniture, transformation systems.