Furni creates things, but not web things. They design things too, but not web things either. So just what is Furni? Mike Giles, Furni co-founder, entertained Juxtaviews for a moment, stopping to give us the skinny on the little-big world that is Furni.
Furni is a two-man “custom” furniture design shop from Montreal. The Furni brand was created by Mike Giles and Devin Barrette. They were “tired of working for the man”, so they started their own thing - a company doing something they loved - designing and creating (with their own hands) furniture. So far their collection ranges from clocks to magazine stands, to lamps, and even cutting boards. They do it all, and for only being a two man machine, that’s gotta be tough.
I first found out about Furni when I was writing for a small sale/bargain blog in a former-life. I was doing my usual morning surfing, just checking out various design resources around the web and in my RSS reader. For about one week I couldn’t help notice that everyone was talking about this one design shop, a small little furniture design company called Furni. Put aside the web hype I was consuming in the blogosphere, their product photos were so clean, so minimalistic, so appealing, and even if you didn’t care about design you cared about their products. That is how I found Furni, and I’m not the only one who knows about Furni’s creations.
So, I now own one item created by the Furni duo - The Miller. It’s a bamboo cutting/serving board. It’s not one of those things I use every day, but when I do use it (and I do use it often especially around friends and family), it quickly becomes the topic of discussion. It’s smart, its simple, the included bowls make it super functional, and it’s made from bamboo which is a renewable resource and that makes me feel all “green” inside. (Read what “Real Simple” magazine said about The Miller.)
Speaking of being “green” - that’s something Furni takes seriously. Just check out their Furni Gives a Hoot page to better understand all the care they take into making sure their products are environmentally friendly. So if their product shots don’t get you, andif you have a soul, this will. Who said it’s not easy being green?
As I already mentioned, Furni isn’t a website or a web 2.0 company. They do run their webstore on Shopify (which is an excellant web 2.0 (give me the gun) out-of-the-box web based retail solution) and Mike may have met his fiance on Friendster (you’ll have to read the interview to find out more on that one). Heck, they even have a blog. Maybe these guys are “furniture 2.0″? (sorry, terrible joke).
In the end, two guys took a risk to do what they love and do it well, and succeeded - that’s what matters to us here at Juxtaviews. Thanks Mike for stopping to answer our questions. And good luck with Furni. Enjoy!
Listened to: While creating this interview post I listened to Jay May, Jawbreaker, Texas is the Reason, Weston, and The Lemonheads. Yes, I’m still living to the soundtrack of a 15 year old boy.
Name, age, favorite design magazine, and when you sleep at night you dream about?
Mike Giles, 30, combination of Wallpaper / Dwell and PaperPlane, at night I dream of not having to comprimise the integrity of a project
When an old relative asks you what you do for a living you say…?
“make furniture…no not like that kind of furniture…kind of…sure, like Ikea” - it’s sometimes easier to just grin and nod.
Describe a typical day-in-the-life at the Furni offices.
I show up at work unsheath my laptop, which is still warm from the e-mailing I did before coming to work earlier that morning!! Say what’s up to Devin (my business partner) and look at my never ending “to do” list. At this point I decide a nice cup of tea will help me decide where to begin (I am British) after re-heating my tea a minimum of three times, I spend most of the rest of the day juggling between working on the future and current business, you see our roots are in custom contracts so that’s what pays the bills, Devin’s heading up that side of things, but we still need to plan and organize stuff together (Like how to get wood from the yard to our shop since our van was stolen a couple months ago) I usually grab lunch at about 3pm then spend the afternoon catching up on more e-mails, send out a bunch of “hey we’d love to be in your store” e-mails and if I’m lucky, actually sand a couple pieces of wood!!!
Design matters why?
Without it the world would be a highly boring, homogenized pile of non productive crap.
The creation of Furni was very much an entrepreneurial journey. Describe how many people, how long, and how much cost (if you don’t mind) it took to get Furni off the ground?
Furni began as a two man operation and continues to be, there’s really enough work for at least 5 people but I am basically either a robot or just a workaholic cause somehow things managed to get done. The company began quite by chance as I was actually just serving as a helper for a cabinet making job Devin scored from a friend.I was unemployed at the time and faced with the grim reality of returning to the rat race we decided to take the little cash we got from the first job to buy some tools so we could have a go at another. The startup costs were minimal, it’s only now that we are carrying inventory and having to get components made oversees ( Try and find outdated almost obselete LED technology in North America) that we are starting to see the financial burdone. To tell you the truth Kraft dinner really isn’t that awfull.
One unique factor about Furni, I think, is that a lot of your popularity grew from design blogs and web hype (that’s how I came across furni a few years back). How large a role has the web been in Furni’s success?
The success of any brand or product is dictated entirely by it getting to the right market, I know of two design shops in the whole of Montreal, simple economics states that two stores can’t support an entire business, so imagine if there was some sort of mega network of sources where you could get info about these products and where to get them and they existed in a formulated network of hyperlinks and online shops. That’s how awesome both the internet and design blogs are. They put us in touch with the people who want our stuff..gone are the days of the door to door salesman.
What is your most popular product and what is your personal favorite, why?
I built our first model of the “Gator” desk clock for an artshow about 3 years ago, after multiple request for them from friends at the show, I realized we might be onto something.so as far as having a special place in my heart it’s the “Gator” all the way, if you want to talk favorites though it’s our new clock the “Alba” that I’m all about right now, I finished the prototype last week, sent a couple pictures to a killer design blog and got a dozen pre-orders before the varnish was dry.I love that little guy!!
What is your greatest day-in/day-out obstacle?
Three words, “Speculate to accumulate” every day I bounce between investing even more money that we don’t have into a future project that might or might not be..Financing is a major issue with all small businesses but going in to debt is sometimes necessary for the big picture..It ain’t easy though I never used to carry a penny on my credit card, now you can bearly read the numbers on it cause the plastics so worn down!
What is it about Furni that sets you apart from your competitors? Basically, why should I care about Furni?
Simple. Cause we care about you. We make nice simple things, priced just high enough that you will dust em off and put them in a box when you move, but not so ridiculous that you have to build a glass climate controlled case around our products and never use them. Our products are made by hand using a simple cottage industry mentality that’s formulated around the sentiment of an honest day’s work deserves an honest days pay.
What inspires you?
EverythingFriends, music, weather, emotions.and sometimes nothing. I know it sounds weird but sometimes I am completely un-inspired. I guess you gotta have the lowest lows to get the highest highs..
How has the Montreal community helped your business development? Is there a strong design/architecture “scene” for networking and collaboration?
Our city was at it’s pinnacle of awesomeness in between the mid sixtys and late seventies, we had a worlds expo and the Olympics.as far as my kind of design aesthetic you couldn’t have had a better combo. I challenge you to look up an old video of the Expo on you tube or some images of the Olympic village and not be inspired. The funny part is that most of those buildings and element still exist here today, the city is kinda caught in a beautifully retro time warp.
For the various DIYers out there, what tools do you primarily use when creating your new products? And describe the process if you could actually. Do you first sketch out your ideas, etc, etc?
I am super hands on, usually a quick sketch of an idea when it occurs not to forget the concept, thenI grab a chunk of wood and try to turn it into a reality. Luckily for me when the dust settles and the prototype is done I’ve got a talented business partner who can figure out how to make it properly!!! We make all our products from five basic tools, Jointer, Planer, Table Saw, Router and an orbital Sander. All available at your local home supply center and all super affordable.
On your mp3 player you are currently listening to?
Websites you must visit every day?
Do you ever use social networking sites like MySpace, etc? If so, which do you use, and for what (friends, music,etc)?
I met my girlfriend and future wife through Friendster (swear to god!) She turned out to be a friend of a friend when I really started to investigatebut that was after cyberspace. I don’t even remember the last time I logged in to that site lately A friend just launched his site called trendmill.com which is a really cool idea, it actually integrates a bunch of different networking concepts all in one..you can browse items, vote on them, tell others about them and in some cases buy them right there and then. I’ve been threatening to start a myspace account but I think I’m distracted enough as it is.
If you and I sat down for a coffee, to talk about “must see” designers of the day - who would you recommend I take a look at?
I’m useless with modern designers names, but if you want to talk founding fathers I’d say
Charles and Ray Eames, I’d tell you to look into their entire body of work and tell me they weren’t the coolest couple you have ever heard of.
The first piece of furniture that made you fall in love with design?
To tell you the truth it was a country not a piece of furniture that made me fall in love with design and that country was Switzerlandscrew sweeden and Ikea the swiss have design on lockdown!! Actually strike that last comment, the Europeans have all got it figured out.
