Abstract: The purpose of this research is to analyze why today's millennial renter consumes disposable furniture. In this paper, I outline historically significant designers and pieces of furniture from a customer-profile perspective to better understand how customer needs were successfully or unsuccessfully identified and fulfilled. Through analyzing Campaign Furniture, Børge Mogensen, Charles and Ray Eames, and IKEA, I provide a framework that can be used to better understand and predict how to design for current and future customers. I conclude the paper with a solution for today’s millennial renter—a system of furniture that both knocks down to make moving less challenging and adapts to any unconventional space using a standardized system of planks, dowels, and joints.
