Du & Jag – what’s the big deal about waiting?
2x design stars
When designer Eva-Johanna Isestig was working on a project about waiting rooms for children and young people, she started by investigating how you could make waiting more meaningful. After a number of workshops and many activities with the children, she gained a rather surprising insight. It turned out that children in general don’t have a problem with waiting. On the contrary, many children found it exciting. But above all, they appreciated getting the full attention of the parent who was with them in the waiting room.
Enhancing that heartwarming meeting between parent and child was the starting point for her work. Eva-Johanna also invited furniture designer Jenny Fingal into the process, and together with NC, who made the project possible, they began sketching something that could capture that precious moment; the result was Du & Jag, a split-level sofa.
Did you know that...
...more than 200 children aged between 4 and 19 years were involved in the various creative activities that resulted in the Du & Jag sofa? Eva-Johanna and Jenny had more than 40 meetings with children’s groups for the ‘Worth Waiting For’ project.
There’s really no right or wrong place for the adult or child to sit – the split-level design is about empowering the child to decide for themselves, since it’s easy for them to climb up on the sofa. But it’s helpful when reading stories, for instance, for a parent and a child to be sitting at roughly the same level. There’s also the idea that children are welcome to play with the cushions, which are loose and have ears and eyes. The child can even take one along when they go to see the doctor, for extra security.
There’s also an item of furniture for the sofa called Filuren – tell us about that!
“Filuren serves a dual purpose as a storage unit and an opportunity for interaction. After all, waiting for a long time can be a bit boring and Filuren creates an opportunity for fun play.”
