Suki

Baby-wearing is a millennia-old tradition found in all cultures across the globe. It gives parents great mobility and independence regardless of the environment. This is recognised by young families living in urban areas today, who have been reviving the tradition. Suki adapts the old-fashioned baby carrier to suit the new lifestyle of urban nomads by adding a transformative function that allows users to carry a baby with Suki, or rest Suki on the ground to use as a cradle. As a baby carrier, the design transfers the child’s weight to the shoulder straps and the hip-belt. The wide base allows the baby to assume the natural posture of an infant, with legs tucked, while the textile back of the carrier cradles the little backbones gently like a hammock. The additional cradle idea takes inspiration from the Native Americans. Suki combines that with today’s standard of knowledge in human engineering and design understanding. By using light bamboo and cloth, the interaction of materials creates various uses. The extendable bamboo belt is sectioned via slats that can form a structure for the rocker function, or allow the belt to be coiled up and kept away compactly. When the carrier is transformed into a rocker, the user can choose between three positions for the baby: sitting, lying, or swaddling. The textile back also incorporates origami details that come in handy for various functions – for example, a hood can be created by folding the top. Suki’s simple and versatile aesthetic will suit any style of users and any environment. Careful consideration was made to produce Suki with minimal resources – kept to just the necessary amount of materials that include cotton and renewable raw bamboo material.