March 22, 2021

Exploring Furniture - As - A - Service | Ep. #26

15 minutes

Today we live in a world where furnitures have become fast-furnitures, catering to a diverse audience and in a way making high-end designs affordable. Gone are the days when furnitures used to be custom made, heavy and lasted a lifetime!

Since 2020, the office environment itself has evolved for the majority population. Billions across the world have procured newer home office set-up. In addition to this, many established offices have had to put away with their office furniture since WFH became the new-normal.

According to Goldstien research, the office furniture industry is estimated to be a 100 billion$ market by 2024.

If you have been an avid follower of Circular Economy, offering product-as-a-service is an immediate solution that must have popped in your mind. Right?

So what could be the best case scenario for a circular design in this industry?

Fairly procured raw materials, sustainably sourced raw materials. Wood, metal, plastic, glass, leather, steel etc. are the majority raw materials that go into office furniture;

A production facility that runs completely on renewable sources of energy;

Product itself should have a modular design which means that it is easy to disassemble. For eg: Once you are done with your furniture use, or there is wear and tear, or maybe you are just bored with it, then parts of the furniture can be repurposed into a new design instead of the entire assembly going into waste.

Now for this to run smoothly, it is equally important for the manufacturer to have a raw material traceability system in place.

Another factor that contributes to the best case would be segregation and categorization of waste that occurs during the production process, because if this is done right, then repurposing the so called waste becomes a creative task.

Lastly just imagine a world where all the wear and tear of your furniture are covered under warranty for as long as you access this furniture as a service.

Well, this best case scenario may sound like a dream, however a Dutch office furniture company Royal Ahrend has started to shift the sector onto a different trajectory by putting circular economy principles at the heart of their business.

Tune into the episode to learn more about how Furniture-As-A-Service can be a scalable solution to todays fast furniture world..

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By Sreepriya Sridharan

11 ratings