Design Computing and Cognition DCC’12. J.S. Gero (ed), 305 pp. 305-321. © Springer 2014 Integrated Generative Design Tools for the Mass Customisation of Furniture Mário Barros 1 , José Pinto Duarte 1 and B.M. Chaparro 2 1 Technical University of Lisbon, 2 Politechnic Institute of Tomar, Portugal This paper presents the optimisation step in a grammar-based generative design system for the mass customisation of furniture. The ongoing re- search assesses the use of integrated CAD-CAE tools in the development of a digital design process involving closer collaboration between design and engineering as a feasible motivation for optimum designs. The optimi- sation of structural behaviour is illustrated by a series of experiments using a simulated annealing algorithm to explore solutions for custom chairs generated by parametric models. Constraints are defined according to the aesthetic considerations established in the design language. The paper con- cludes with a discussion of the effective use of integrated performance tools in furniture design methodology in the age of mass customisation. Introduction The use of digital design tools has progressed from the execution of final drawings towards a framework in which the design, analysis and manufac- turing phases are integrated. In a design-to-production context – in both academic and practical terms – the convergence of CAD, FEM analysis and CAM provides new opportunities for collaboration in the fields of de- sign and engineering. The assimilation of these tools may reverse the tradi- tional process of product development so that it becomes “material, struc- ture, form” [1]. In the field of CAD, parametric design offers the possibility of explor- ing new versions of a design based on changes in the relationships between elements of a schema [2]. Defining and editing the relationships becomes an integral part of the design process.