A peek into the process | How I started to build children's furniture
Welcome to our tiny journal — a space to share what’s new and fabulous, chat about our upbringing and meet our friends, partners and #acorncrew members that allow and inspire us to grow a mindful company and build children’s furniture for your growing home.
Many of you have asked what triggered my pivot from finance to food to kids furniture. Well, it all started with a lousy broken printer.
Last year, every morning, my daughter would walk around our bedroom and would eventually end up perched on our printer. As she grew, the printer did not, and the paper tray no longer cut it as a spot for her to nestle.
So, I started to build her a chair. And in that process discovered the following were vital in creating a long-lasting, sustainably-made piece of furniture that truly belonged in any room of our home and would grow as she did.
It needed to be timeless and durable, something that would be used for years and would transition and fit right in as her styles shifted and grew.
It needed to be beautiful, a design that would complement the aesthetic of our home as a whole and would teach her about design from a young age. I approach building furniture in the same respect I approach feeding my children. As a parent and a chef, I believe kids should be introduced to design-forward objects at an early age, just as I introduced exotic and unfamiliar foods to my children as they grew. The goal is not to dumb down food or design for children but to elevate their experience in both.
It needed to be clean. From a design perspective, but equally from an environmental stance. I want a healthy and vibrant planet for all of our children, so when it came to choosing materials, partners’ and manufacturers’ sustainability was a top priority. Our chairs and cushions are made in America. Our frames are built from wood from local mills in upstate New York and finished with Tried & True Wood Finishes that are made from all natural materials, are VOC free and food safe. Our cushions are made with Ultrasuede, a lux-and-loungy fabric that is made from 100% recycled material.
This process happened over a few months, with several different designs, sizes, fabrics, foams, and packaging. In future posts, I'll talk more about the actual design process and use one of the pieces I'm working on how to walk through it step by step.
All this, of course, is fun, challenging, and incredibly rewarding. Thanks to all you early believers who have cheered me on and helped Franklin+Emily grow.
Best,
dm.
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A Peek into the Process