Rhode Island furniture company Greycork has designed a collection of fast-assembly, flat-pack pieces that are meant “to be a much better substitute to Ikea” .
Greycork, which launched in 2014 with two tables and a bench, is now releasing its second line. This collection features a sofa, chaise, bookshelf, coffee table and side table – supplying an opportunity for a full residing area of furnishings delivered in boxes.
The whole range – described as Japanese-American in type – is constructed from ash and fibreboard, with polyester upholstery.
Each piece is shipped for cost-free in a thin, flat box and is created to be assembled by the customer in below 4 minutes. The assortment is meant “to be a greater option to Ikea,” according to the studio, echoing the intentions of designers AMOO.
Greycork will start taking pre-orders for the new pieces by way of crowdfunding site Indiegogo. The studio aims to increase \$50,000 (£32,000) throughout the forty-day campaign.
Greycork CEO John Humphrey has guaranteed that orders will be fulfilled regardless of regardless of whether the economic goal is met.
“Our campaign is what’s named ‘flexible funding,’ meaning we will ship merchandise no matter whether or not we attain our campaign goal so everybody who orders will get their furnishings,” he said.
The pieces are priced reduced than comparable things from Ikea, explained the studio, even so the rates are probably to rise as soon as the Indiegogo campaign ends.
The sofa, which seats 3 folks, is priced at \$450 (£290) whilst the chaise is selling for \$300 (£190). The coffee table is \$125 (£80), the side table is \$75 (£50) and the 6-shelf bookcase, \$180 (£115).
Connected story: Ikea relaunches first flat-pack table
The business is making use of the crowdfunding internet site rather than just marketing by way of its website since it needs to create widespread exposure and gauge customer curiosity.
“It provides us a way to validate there is a need for Greycork in the globe, which we can justify primarily based on the degree of assistance we see from the audience,” mentioned Humphrey.
Greycork is primarily based in the city of Providence. The entrepreneurial studio was founded by Humphrey, who has a manufacturing background, and Alec Babal and Myung Chul “Bruce” Kim, each of whom studied industrial design at the Rhode Island College of Style (RISD).
The company’s very first line, the Brooks Assortment, featured a folding dining table, coffee table and bench – all produced of wood and priced from \$500 to \$950 (£320 to £610).
Humphrey said they are currently offering off the remaining stock and won’t be manufacturing the pieces once again. “We had orders from Boston to San Francisco and everywhere in in between, and client suggestions was very good,” he explained. “But, since of the higher price tag point, we priced out our target user.”
Greycork aims to appeal to young customers in urban settings. According to statistics supplied by the company, 80 million US residents are in between the age of 20 and forty – and of that group, 87 per cent rent their properties, 30 per cent dwell in cities, and 16 per cent would favor to get furnishings on-line.
The group was inspired to create the quick-assembly furnishings largely due to the “stress induced by purchasing and assembling furniture from Ikea, which is an encounter a lot of individuals can relate to,” explained Humphrey.
Humphrey was also motivated by his personal background. “I grew up doing work for my family organization, placing products collectively on assembly lines, so I know how factors get developed and shipped to an end user,” he mentioned. “I knew there could be a better way when I came to furnishings.”
For the new collection, all of the wood and metal components are developed in the US, while the upholstery is manufactured overseas. The components are compiled, packaged and shipped from the company’s factory in Massachusetts.
Flat-pack furnishings designed by other design studios involves pieces by Benjamin Vermeulen that snap with each other with magnets and wooden tables by Swedish layout duo Mattias Ståhlbom and Gabriella Gustafson.
