Raife Aarons

The STS Furniture Set is a dual-function furniture system composed of two sideboard shelves that can be reconfigured into a single office desk. This adaptability extends the product’s functional lifespan while reducing the need for replacement. Manufactured from compostable Hemp Composite Board panels, a recycled mild steel frame, and recycled aluminium joinery, the STS Set embodies material circularity. Its modular joinery system enables reconfiguration, and ensures each component can be responsibly returned to the appropriate waste or reuse stream at the end of its life.

In Australia, the demand for cheap, mass-produced furniture has fuelled a growing waste and health crisis. Around 48,000 tonnes of household furniture are discarded each year, with 85% ending up in landfill. Commercial spaces add another 30,000 tonnes, 95% of which is also landfilled. Beyond waste, fast furniture contains synthetic coatings, glues, and flame retardants that release harmful chemicals indoors. Australians are now inhaling and ingesting microplastics shed from furnishings, making the issue both environmental and personal.

Furniture should be seen as more than an object; it should be respected as the place through which it functions. A dining table is not just a table, it is a space for gathering, for nourishment, for connection. These places hold memories, yet those memories fade when the places that shape them are constantly replaced. The dual functionality of the STS Set ensures that these places endure, allowing new stories to take root over time.

The modular joinery system draws inspiration from bicycle componentry such as handlebar stems and seatpost collars. It employs two M5 bolts to clamp the main body to the side frame, and a third countersunk M5 bolt that secures the crossmembers within the joint. This third bolt also serves to fasten the panels to the frame when configured as a desk. Additional support for the tabletop panels is provided by bench connectors, whose undersides interface directly with the desk crossmembers.

The panels of the STS Set are made from hemp and a casein adhesive, forming a composite with a hemp hurd core and outer hemp fibre layers bound by casein glue. The material is fully compostable at the end of its life. As part of a closed-loop system, Hemp To The Future will grow hemp on-site for furniture production. The crop matures in 120 days, absorbs four times more carbon than pine, and can grow in poor or contaminated soils, helping to restore soil quality.

This STS Set is presented at 1:3 scale. Though a full-size prototype was not realised due to various constraints, this model clearly conveys the design’s proportions, functionality, and spatial presence.