Abstract
The furniture industry is currently facing profound environmental and systemic challenges that demand radical transformation. Servitisation, understood as the shift from selling products to delivering value through integrated product–service systems, offers a potential pathway to foster circularity and long-term competitiveness. However, this change requires the adaptation and integration of circularity strategies within the sector. Strategic Design and Transition Design can provide solid theoretical and practical foundations to support this integration. Therefore, this article explores how participatory processes supported by design can assist companies in co-defining circular strategies through servitisation. Using Participatory Action Research within a leading Italian furniture manufacturer, the study proposes a process involving a series of collaborative workshops to map system dynamics, envision future scenarios, and define actionable directions. The process revealed both tangible and intangible strategic design outcomes. The process proposed highlights the potential of Strategic and Transition Design to guide businesses through design-led circular transitions.
Keywords
strategic design, transition design, furniture, circular economy
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.615
Citation
Italia, M., Migliozzi, S., Melazzini, M., Maurer, D., and Pei, X. (2026) Strategic Design for Circular Transitions: Co-defining Servitisation Strategies with a Furniture Company, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.615
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Strategic Design for Circular Transitions: Co-defining Servitisation Strategies with a Furniture Company
The furniture industry is currently facing profound environmental and systemic challenges that demand radical transformation. Servitisation, understood as the shift from selling products to delivering value through integrated product–service systems, offers a potential pathway to foster circularity and long-term competitiveness. However, this change requires the adaptation and integration of circularity strategies within the sector. Strategic Design and Transition Design can provide solid theoretical and practical foundations to support this integration. Therefore, this article explores how participatory processes supported by design can assist companies in co-defining circular strategies through servitisation. Using Participatory Action Research within a leading Italian furniture manufacturer, the study proposes a process involving a series of collaborative workshops to map system dynamics, envision future scenarios, and define actionable directions. The process revealed both tangible and intangible strategic design outcomes. The process proposed highlights the potential of Strategic and Transition Design to guide businesses through design-led circular transitions.