22nd November 2016

Life after flatpack: Special Projects have the Missing Pages

By Anthony Leyton

Every Saturday afternoon, somewhere in the world, a couple is arguing about furniture. Crouched there on the floor, surrounded by cardboard and bits of dowelling, the skin has peeled off the surface of their relationship, revealing the bare and vulnerable flesh beneath. It probably happened somewhere around step 28 of 42, maybe when he put the side panel on upside down or she used a 12mm screw instead of a 16; one second they were assembling an item of flatpack furniture; the next they were engaged in full-on emotional warfare.

‘I’ve done it wrong, have I? Oh there’s a surprise. I should have left it to you, because everything you do is perfect, right? Except when you broke the dishwasher cleaning engine parts.’

‘Sure, the bookcase may be up, but don’t you remember what your mother said to me on Christmas Eve 2008?’

‘You’re so heavy-handed with that Allen key! You can’t just crank it like a madman and expect it to come together. But then, I’ve told you that before…’

The instructions are clear enough – at least, they are once you’ve learned to be fluent into their peculiar language of arrows and incongruously smiley faces – but there’s one aspect of furniture assembly they don’t take into account: the sheer emotional and physical impact it has on the people who embark on it. ‘Caution: may cause domestic breakdown is one phrase that never appears in the manual.

But wait! There’s hope. You don’t need to resort to readymade furniture after all. You can still experience the thrill of opening the toolbox and the satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself, but thanks to Special Projects, you’re less likely to be filing for divorce afterwards.

The ever-inventive design studio have brought their user-centric design approach to the world of the flatpack manual, creating Missing Pages – a series of instruction inserts designed to relieve the pain, heal the wounds and introduce an element of user delight into the process of screwing together bits of veneered MDF.

SLEEPÏ by Special Projects

‘When working on Out of the Box, the age-friendly phone manual we created for Samsung in 2009, we spent weeks looking at catalogues, manuals, instructional videos and reference books,’ says Special Projects co-founder Adrian Westaway. ‘ As with all our previous human-centered designs, these speculative explorations were inspired by the need to create a complete user experience that has the power to enhance the unquantifiable aspects of life: empathy, wellbeing, delight.’

There are three manuals in the series, each one considering a different domestic experience that flatpack furniture might influence:

DÜO is designed to alleviate any relationship tensions that might have emerged during the process of assembling an article such as a bed. Through a brief couples-therapy craft exercise, emotional balance can be restored, and you might even find yourselves bonding more closely as a result.

DÜO by Special Projects

STRETCHÏ is the antidote to the backache and muscle strain resulting from assembling something tricky and cumbersome like a bookcase. The manual outlines some simple, 30-second yoga positions that can help ease the mental and physical pains of an over-intense DIY session, using the box as an impromptu yoga mat.

STRETCHÏ by Special Projects

SLEEPÏ is a way of adding creativity and delight to the prosaic process of building a baby cot. After the stress of assembling it, parents can embark on a calming craft activity that will add a room-enhancing sensory sculpture to their child’s sleeping space, using only thread, scissors and tape.

SLEEPÏ by Special Projects

(We should point out that Missing Pages are in no way endorsed by any particular internationally beloved furniture brand or purveyor of suspiciously cheap hotdogs.)

So next time you find yourself unboxing a (possibly Scandinavian?) self-assembly lifestyle solution, reach for the Missing Pages – your relationship may depend on it.

Download the Missing Pages here and let STRETCHÏ work wonders on your mind and body.