Future furniture: Innovating tradition

THE tech revolution is fast conquering one of the last bastions of brick and mortar shopping, or traditional manufacturing - the furniture and furnishing business, a sector usually associated with big stores, or traditional tools and craftsmanship.

How is the digital trend shaking up the industry? Will this mean a new dawn or a deepening dusk for the industry?

How is the digital tide changing furniture?

Gone are the days when household items must be confined to static and singular functions.

The world's first digitally transformable sofa - the Lift-Bit, for instance, is already in the works by Italian design studio Carlo Ratti Associati. It uses a series of motorised, hexagonal stool…