Students from ESAD's Postgraduate Furniture Design Course collaborated with Induflex S.A., an upholstered furniture company aimed at the contract market, particularly hotels, cruise ships and luxury homes.

Induflex proposed three current projects to the students, with very specific objectives: development of a chair for small hotel rooms that allows adaptation to authorial projects; a contemporary chair for a luxury nursing home; or a modular and flexible system of stools and chairs for restaurants. The students visited the company's factory and were introduced to the particularities of upholstered furniture design and manufacture. The company CEO illustrated the company's historical journey and highlighted the company's vision.

The students developed their design process in continuous contact with the company's designers. At the end of the academic project, all students formally presented their proposals before the CEO and Induflex designers. The results were, without exception, highly praised and the CEO of Induflex opened the possibility for the students to continue with the future development of their proposals in collaboration with the technical department of the company.

Induflex S.A. is proud to be able to collaborate with ESAD, for the future benefit of the students and the company, in the exchange and updating of knowledge. Undoubtedly, these are unusual and innovative projects, futuristic, intuitive and with very attractive results. In general, the students' work was very complete, showing not only concern for the general appearance, but also for the structure and placement of the different internal components of the products. Excellent work (…).
– Rui Cunha, CEO Induflex S.A.)

Contact with companies and the experience of developing projects in accordance with the requirements of real production methods, play a central role in this Postgraduate Course, thus preparing students rigorously for the job market.

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