Affective response difference to the viewing of different styles of solid wood furniture based on Kansei engineering

Homogeneity of products is a serious problem in China’s solid wood furniture market, especially reflected in the fact that the furniture form cannot meet the individualized demand of consumers. To explore the differences of consumers’ affective response for different styles of solid wood furniture, this study used Kansei engineering to perform perceptual semantic experiments on Ming-style, Qing-style, and modern Chinese-style furniture. The perceptual images of three styles of solid wood chairs were compared by single factor variance. Additionally, it deconstructed the morphological elements of solid wood seats using morphological analysis and established a mapping model between morphological elements and affective response by quantification theory type-I and multivariable linear regression model. The results show that there are differences in affective response between Ming-style, Qing-style, and modern Chinese style solid wood furniture. Qing-style solid wood furniture tends to be “ornate” and “personalized”. Modern Chinese-style solid wood furniture tends to be “modern” and “streamlined”, Ming-style solid wood furniture is in between the two styles. This study can provide furniture designers with a way to compare the differences in affective responses of different products, and the resulting relationship between affective responses and morphological elements can assist in designing products.