Goods & Services | Forma Furniture
Fine Forma Furniture that’s better by design Forma Furniture is a producer of contemporary handmade furniture. Now some 25 years young Forma, whilst drawing on classical European design styles and influences, is fiercely independent in design and manufacture - all of which is done with pride here in Auckland. Furniture is available nationwide via Forma’s own showrooms and a comprehensive dealer stockist network which includes Christchurch, Queenstown, Tauranga and Kerikeri. The company began humbly when director and designer Matthew Smidt left his farming background and studied design at the Auckland design school, graduating with a head full of modern design ideas for a new type and style of kiwi furniture. A few years after this Matthew met Scott Cooper who had a strong and clear vision about where Forma Furniture could grow and establish a unique name and niché for its work. Even today it is the guiding hands of Matthew and Scott who set the company strategy and, ably assisted by a senior management team numbering only five others, guide the success of what is rapidly becoming an iconic Kiwi design and manufacturing company.
General manager Scott Cooper sees two main reasons for the company’s recent growth spurt. “The gradual improvement in the economy in general and the constantly increasing desire from customers to purchase and support quality New Zealand made products that can be tailored to suit different requirements.” Increasing brand awareness This year’s goals are set with the aim of continuing to increase Forma’s brand awareness, reaching still untapped potential in the marketplace. “Also we want to develop and grow our in house interior design service where we have an excellent team of four globally experienced designers bursting with ideas for any new home or work environment.” Another key area Cooper and his team are focusing on is the expansion into the commercial sector, as more and more companies realise the return on investment in creating an attractive, well designed, bright and colourful ergonomic work space. “As we have the ability to manufacture in New Zealand to specific customer requirements, we are not at all restricted by size, colour palettes or limited fabric choices. “We offer a bespoke design and make service which is fairly unique in the lengths it will go to, to achieve total satisfaction for clients with discerning tastes.”
Manufactured furniture for any spot • Sofas and seating • Chairs • Living rooms • Dining rooms • Beds and bedrooms • Outdoor furniture • Giftware items. Larger corporate clients that project work has recently been completed for include the Air New Zealand lounge at Auckland Airport, the Hilton Hotel in Queenstown, the Orbit Restaurant in Sky City and some of the Glasson’s department stores nationwide. “An encouraging factor we are continuing to monitor is to see young New Zealand design graduate students developing and marketing their own products, which is now easier to do thanks to Internet-based marketing and social media channels.
Proud suppliers to Forma Furniture of the all new Lennox range of quality New Zealand designed and manufactured occasional furniture.
112 May/June 2014 www.aucklandtoday.net.nz
“Therefore the gap in cost between manufacturing these designs within New Zealand as opposed to the cheaper Asian labour markets is continuing to close, which makes our Forma product more attractive to purchase and means that there is a ready supply of good and talented designers gaining valuable home grown experience in New Zealand,” Cooper says. Whereas cost will always be a factor, no matter what the budget, the fact that customers are definitely becoming
better educated and more aware of the differences in quality is positive news for all independent designers and manufacturers, in the sense that ‘a high tide raises all boats’ and allows quality and standards to rise throughout. There has been a plethora of cheap, poorly designed, mass produced, flat packed furniture flooding the market for some time and the larger retail chains are keen to move it on with small margins. The fact is, it does the customer no service, is barely fit for purpose and often breaks after a relatively short period of use. It is clear that due to the amount of lower quality imported furniture available in the market today, past experience with these products would indicate that these products have not lived up to expectations. “At Forma, our main point of difference is the fact we manufacture the product ourselves, from start to finish, giving us the ability to control all aspects of quality and design and allowing customers to tailor things to suit. “If a customer wants a coarse grain lime green leather fabric, or a sofa 65 centimetres longer than standard, we are able to accommodate all these requests with our bespoke service. “We offer an interior design service free of charge all housed in-house. It could not really be any more convenient! Our staff are widely experienced with a wealth of knowledge and resources at their finger tips. We can boast European flair manufactured right here in New Zealand, utilising a chain of other Kiwi suppliers along the way.