Enhancing contemporary home furniture with malay tangible cultural heritage

Product demand has been transformed from quantitative consumption to perceptual consumption along with the arrival of an era that revolves around concept development. Therefore, functionality of a product now lies between two entities; technical and emotional function. Technical function is how product works, while emotional function is how product makes user feels. Hence, engaging emotion as a partner to technology will deliver the next market place products that will captivate customers. However, it’s only when the formal attributes (colour, shape, form, etc.) of an object come together to act as a medium for an emotion does an object become expressive. The tangible heritage of Malay is not only known for uniqueness, but also the realistic traditional concept of art in Malay. It is a reflection of the splendor and beauty of aesthetical elements or ornamentations adorning them that carry deeper philosophical and sacred meanings. Thus, integrating elements of Malay tangible cultural heritage into contemporary home furniture is seen as an approach towards creating products that has emotional and spiritual contents coupled with aesthetic appeal. Therefore, this paper seeks the knowledge regarding the global trend in home furniture design, the Malay cultural heritage and also practically illustrates by example how the elements of Malay tangible heritage can be integrated into contemporary home furniture.