My NooK Play Sofa

The challenge in designing this Original Australian Play Sofa was to ensure our product fulfilled as many needs as possible for the modern family home. We wanted to ensure our NooKs functioned as a versatile seating solution, a children's therapy tool, an open-ended play toy and a sleepover bed. We sought to create a product which looked beautiful, had exceptional functionality and versatility and was able to spark children's imagination for building incredible structures, sparking the imagination and improving gross-motor outcomes!

In creating 10 separate pieces and ensuring they integrated seamlessly, our NooK is exceptionally versatile while also looking beautiful in the home and fulfilling many of the practical needs of family life. We chose to use the main building shapes of design - circles, triangles, squares and rectangles - and then looked at the best interplay of measurements to achieve versatility. We sought to create a product that was optimised for building, containing enough components to make an exceptional children's toy, while also ensuring it functioned as a seating solution and sleepover space with a surface larger than a double bed!

In creating a product which effectively fulfils many different family needs, we have built a strong commercial basis for the product purchase. This has ensured growing sales and consistently positive feedback on functionality and design from our customers who have used the NooK in many different applications. As we increasingly live in smaller spaces, it is essential that our belongings become as multi-purpose as possible and achieve the highest versatility. NooK has created a product, which through its positive design attributes, has been able to create significant sales, captured high market share and engendered strong customer loyalty.

The NooK Play Sofa has been designed to achieve the greatest functionality while still creating a beautiful product. Our 10 individual cushions can be configured in a multitude of ways for: - play (cubbies, forts, slides, games, obstacle courses) - therapy (Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Sensory Seeking, Self-Regulation) - seating (sofa, individual armchairs, recliner, hammock, individual cushion seats) - sleep (single bed configuration, long single, double bed). Our cushions can then be reconfigured for storage as a sofa, in a stack in smaller spaces, or split across various rooms as required. With our unique Zip-Together function, our four base cushions have ultimate versatility to be both separate or joined in pairs for added stability in both building and seating configurations. In seeking to integrate all of our components for utility and buildability, we prototyped different configurations and foam types to ensure that we were creating a product which had the strength for building and the comfort for lounging. We use 4 different types of foam across our NooK play sofa and extensions, each fulfilling different needs in our design process. All our NooK components are double stitched for strength and use commercial grade, machine washable fabric that can withstand use by children.