Een tijdje geleden ontdekte ik de website van Furni; twee creativievelingen uit Canada die erg smaakvolle klokken, horloges, schoenen en nog veel meer ontwerpen. Ik viel als een blok voor het horloge, dat ze in samenwerking met het merk Raised By Wolves hebben gemaakt. Al snel kwam ik in contact met één van de oprichters, Mike Giles, met als resultaat een kort en bondig interview. Enjoy!

Started a little over 6 years ago by Devin Barrette and Myself (Mike Giles) Furni began as a "custom" furniture operation. Back then we cashed in our unemployment cheques and, tired of working for the "man", decided to go it alone. Using our first deposit cheque to pay for tools we managed to rent a small shop and dig in.....lucky for us Devins cabinet making skills and my interest in simple, modern design got us a good start. These days were are shifting focus more and more to exploring and creating our own designs, we're still very hands on, from picking the rough lumber all the way to staining, finishing, boxing and shipping the final product. We are just a two man operation, but proud of the flexibility and control it gives us over the end product. If you guys keep on buying we will keep on creating! - Furni.
Could you describe what Furni (creations) does?
Furni is a design/build shop based in Montreal, Canada that creates modern, minimal items such as (but not limited too) alarm clocks, magazine racks, clocks etc... They are also very active in collaborations with other companies that share their aesthetic to create limited edition pieces.

How did you come up with the name Furni, and what does it mean?
(a) Short for Furniture (that's the boring explanation)
(b) Sounds very similar to "Fernie" which is an amazing ski hill I spent many hours at with good friends.
(b) In the movie "Fight Club" Furni is the name use to portray another well known swedish box box manufacturer.

Who are the people behind the scenes at Furni? Who is responsible for what task?
95% of the time just Devin Barrette and myself (Mike Giles). We use interns/part time employees only during large jobs and production. I primarily take care of design, marketing, web etc. and Devin is in charge of the workshop.

Does Furni primarily sell in Canada or do you also sell internationally?
We sell about 75% Internationally, Montreal is a great design "influenced" city, but not many people here choose to spend their money on locally produced goods.

What have you released so far? What is it you are most proud of and why?
We've done over 50 products now since we started, each new project becomes my favourite as each time we perfect a small part of the manufacturing/marketing or design of an item and it's very rewarding.