---
title: "TUPA"
description: "TUPA (UPM, 2010/11): One plywood piece converts from rocking crib to table, chairs and toy box"
url: "https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/tupa-2010-11/"
lang: "en"
---

# TUPA

**One plywood piece converts from rocking crib to table, chairs and toy box**

_A Multi-Functional baby product that lessens the strain on new families._

- **Corporate partner:** [UPM](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/partners/upm/) (https://www.upmgrada.com/)
- **Cohort:** [2010/11](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/cohort/2010-11/)
- **Theme:** [Living & leisure](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/themes/living-leisure/)
- **Type:** Physical product
- **Projected:** 710 EUR potential saving for a family
- **Universities:** [Aalto University · Design Factory](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/universities/aalto/), [Kyoto Institute of Technology](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/universities/kyoto-it/)
- **Team:** 8 master students
- **Disciplines:** Architecture, Design, Design Engineering, Mechanical Wood Engineering, Product Design, User Experience Design

## Challenge

UPM had developed Grada plywood, which forms stronger, more durable bonds. The brief: create a product that opens new opportunities for the material while reducing packaging waste.

## What the team learned

Finland's Kela maternity package, a starter kit for expecting families, pointed the team to a key factor for growing families: financial hardship.

## What they built

TUPA is a multifunctional plywood baby product. It converts into an infant bed with a rocking crib, a table, chairs, a stepping stool or a toy box, so one piece serves a child for a long time.

## Results

- Projected: the combined furniture can save a family up to 710 EUR.

## Full project text

A wooden multi-functional combination of furniture for the new-born and toddler to cut down the financial weight that comes along with having children as they can be used for a long time.

### Challenge

UPM Grada ™ Plywood was newly developed which implies materials and processes that allow for the production of more durable and stronger bonds in plywood. For this technology, the challenge was to create a product that opens up new opportunities while solving packaging waste to start the need-finding process.

### Solution

Inspired by the social security Kela maternity package in Finland, where expecting families receive a starter package for the mom and the baby (i.e. baby clothes, formula, diapers, breastfeeding equipment), it showed that a prominent factor in growing families is the financial hardship. The creation of TUPA, a multi-functional baby product allows to be turned into an infant/baby bed with a rocking crib, a table, chairs, and stepping stool or a toy box.

### Impact

Overall, the Tupa can save families up to 710 EUR (~86,000 JPY) with its multiple combination of furniture. By providing a multi-functional baby product with the help of UPM’s new technology, the design team hopes to ease the financial weight placed on new families so that they can better enjoy life’s most precious package.

## Who built it.

- Julia Pettersson Hakava, Architecture (Aalto University · Design Factory)
- Tuomas Sahramaa, Product design (Aalto University · Design Factory)
- Heikki Soininen, Mechanical Wood Engineering (Aalto University · Design Factory)
- Paul Warrunthorn Kittiwongsunthorn, User Experience Design (Aalto University · Design Factory)
- Haruna Kawashima (Kyoto Institute of Technology)
- Kento Misawa, Design (Kyoto Institute of Technology)
- Rumi Yoshida (Kyoto Institute of Technology)
- Mamiko Nagao, Design Engineering Management (Kyoto Institute of Technology)

## Video

- Tupa Finland Maternity Package in Action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBWyoKWVz0Q

## Sources

Summarised by the SUGAR editorial team from the team’s project page.

Figures marked “Projected” are the team’s own estimates, not measured results.