Opposite: Hem’s Key side table, designed by GamFratesi.
Chairigami was founded by Rotholz in 2001. It produces furniture in Triple Wall, a three-ply corrugated cardboard. 9
> of Weebly’s most successful sites, Zach Rotholz’s Chairigami,9 sells inexpensive and sustainable cardboard furniture “for the urban nomad”, chiming with younger consumers in a way that few traditional brands can. By buying direct from the maker, as opposed to through the chain of retailers, distributors, manufacturers and designers, customers can feel as if they are gaining an “authentic” experience – one not mediated by a pre-existing commercial structure.
The forecast for traditional design in light of these changes is uncertain, complicated further by the industry’s slow adaptation to e-commerce. Certainly, there are some moves being made by traditional designer brands towards online retail. Made In Design, for instance, provides an e-commerce home for numerous big names – Kartell, Hay, Moroso and Moooi among others – many of whom lack their own e-stores. But while such pieces are available online, their presentation lags behind that of newer, internet-only ventures. Setting aside the industry’s conservatism, what are the difficulties facing online furniture retail and how can it succeed? The most manifest problems start with the nature of furniture itself. As Ed Carpenter states, “the biggest issue is obviously the size of the products. Shipping a chair is a lot harder than shipping a pair of shoes or a T-shirt.” The logistics of transporting products is difficult enough without the heightened demands of e-commerce, where people expect products to be dispatched almost instantly and shipped internationally.
However expensive a piece of furniture is, it is a rare purchase. Furniture has a large spatial footprint and is, generally, intended to last several years. As a consumer, you are likely to want to see it with your own eyes first. In the words of Sylvain Willenz, a Belgian designer who runs his own online shop, “furniture is something you experience. You have to literally experience it with your body, you have to touch it.” Interaction is also key. As Willenz notes, “people sometimes ask for recommendations, to be advised... Customers want to feel like there is an actual human behind the shop.” Carpenter frames this as “engaging customers in a conversation”, letting them “really buy into the product” – something more difficult to do online.
Andrea Ciccoli is CEO of The Level Group, a Milan-based company that provides clients with a comprehensive e-commerce platform. It covers everything from design, content and marketing, to financial services and logistics. In the past, The Level Group has worked largely with clothing labels, including New Balance, Woolrich and Geox. This June, it launched Wallpaper* magazine’s new online store. Although WallpaperSTORE* currently focuses on accessories over furniture, Ciccoli indicates that there are plans to broaden it in future. For Ciccoli, with his experience in fashion, design’s online difficulties are principally commercial. “The design world lacks the strong brand visibility and the must-have, seasonal products that exist in fashion,” he says. “Then you have the problem of the design world’s fragmentation – there are so many different players and so much diversity. It’s a huge world to wade through.”
The two issues Ciccoli brings up are crucial. Few furniture designers are household names and, even for consumers who buy products online, the presence of physical shops builds awareness by casting both brand and product as open and available. Design, with its tendency for limited shops and showrooms in small bands of locations, lacks such prominence, especially for consumers outside international centres. As Bradford Shellhammer puts it, “try living in Ohio”. In addressing these concerns, Made.com is a paramount example of how to do online retail right. The price of its furniture, although significantly higher than mass-market levels, is still considerably lower than that of traditional design houses. Strong marketing has helped the >
106 Disegno. THE INTERNET OF THINGS