Furnware Recount and Reflection

Last week on Thursday the 24th of May, Room 10,11,12 went on a school trip to Furnware, which is a factory that make school furniture.

Sheppard are doing an Inquiry called Movers and Shakers which is about innovation.

Furnware are the perfect picture of innovation, they have been through tough times in business, but together they managed to pull through and design a better school chair which became incredibly popular.

There were three set activities, the first was a talk and sort of explanation about Furnware. The business has been working for 83 years now, longer than Watties! They export school furniture to up to 25 different countries all over the world. I think that is seriously impressive!

I really enjoyed the talk because I loved learning about everything the guide had to tell us and about how innovation is one of their main motives.

The next activity that we did was in the design department with Jess, a member of the Furnware design team. We split ourselves into groups of four or five and each group occupied a whiteboard table. Our task and challenge then was to design a table that was innovative. By innovative I mean that is new purpose and a new upgrade that would help kids with their learning.

All the design team were really kind and encouraging, they were full of new ideas and ways to help us improve our designs.

Our last activity was a walk through the manufacturing department. It was truly amazing seeing how all the school furniture that we use, is made. It just blows my mind how some pieces of plastic and metal can transform into very comfortable, high quality chairs.

I really really enjoyed our trip to Furnware, it was interesting and inspiring.