Helping needy kids study with cardboard table
A Singapore-based company has devised a study table made of cardboard catering to children of different ages, and is also easy to assemble.
It comes with a matching stool and a stand for a laptop, tablet or book - all in sturdy 10mm double-wall cardboard.
Chemistry, a strategic design consultancy, hopes the table will provide underprivileged children with a better learning environment at home, where the lack of space and resources often means that studying is done on the bed or the floor.
"The cardboard table can be used at two heights, catering for children aged four to 12 by simply flipping it on its front," said Mr John Chan, design director of the company.
Chemistry has been working with three welfare organisations to distribute free table sets to families with two or more children aged four to 12, whose monthly per capita household income is less than $650 and home is a three-room Housing Board flat or smaller.
So far, the company has given 46 sets to beneficiaries of the Society of Sheng Hong Welfare Services, Fei Yue Family Service Centre and Tasek Jurong, a not-for-profit organisation that helps the socially disadvantaged.
Chemistry plans to fund and distribute 100 sets, each costing $50 to produce.
Made by home-grown company Tri-Wall, each table and stool can take a weight of up to 100kg.
A beneficiary from Fei Yue Family Service Centre, who declined to be named, said the table came at the right time.
She had been putting off buying a table for her two children as she could not afford it.
"Before this, my children had to use a television console to do their homework... I am so thankful for this," she said, adding that her children were looking forward to decorating the set with paint. - MELISSA YIP
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