Sketches Turn Into Major Store Event
By Jay McIntosh — Furniture Today, July 27, 2009

TORONTO — Looking for some new ideas in furniture design, retailer casalife went to the non-furniture creative class.

Store owner Rob Whitfield invited fashion apparel designers, a chef, architects, interior designers and even a Canadian TV personality to give him ideas for products, sketching them out on napkins.

Then he had prototypes made and showed them off. More than 1,200 people attended an evening event called Mi Casa Su Casa, held at the store in the trendy Liberty Village district of Toronto. Guests saw the clever new products, met the designers and found out what it takes to turn an idea into a piece of furniture.

“Casalife wants to raise awareness about furniture and design and we’re constantly searching and sourcing new products,” said Whitfield.

“Mi Casa Su Casa is a way to link these two principles and demonstrate the path of design while connecting original, creative minds to the challenges of small space. For us, that’s what it’s all about.”

All the designs were contemporary — casalife’s specialty — and several were multifunctional, aimed at making good use of small urban spaces. Interior designer Karen Sealy’s birch wood hamper, for instance, comes with a fold-out stepstool to help the user reach storage space on a high closet shelf.

Casalife hosted guests inside its 6,000-square-foot main store here and in the parking lot, which was covered with synthetic turf and outdoor furniture from Nuevo Pods. It also invited visitors to tour the Container Office, a self-sustaining office created from a recycled shipping container by BSQ Landscape Design Studio.

Part of the reason for the event was to launch Canobo, a brand of furniture made by a source factory that is a sister company to casalife. Whitfield is hoping to distribute the line through other stores as well.

“We’re not looking to wholesale to the world, but we’d like to partner with some retailers in other cities,” he said.

What’s the big idea?
Toronto retailer casalife invited a dozen non-furniture designers to come up with a piece of furniture they’d like to see. The retailer worked with the amateur designers and built prototypes in a matter of weeks. It then threw a big party and drew 1,200 people to the store to see the new creations and meet the designers.

The objective
Casalife wanted to show its creative abilities while educating consumers and getting them excited about the process of designing furniture. It also launched a new house brand, called Canobo, which it wants to start distributing to retailers in other cities.

The cost
Store owner Rob Whitfield estimates it cost C$140,000 or C$150,000 to throw the party, but sponsors covered around C$100,000. There were also some hidden costs, he thinks, since the store was closed for a week and the showroom was cleared to make way for the guests and the displays showing how the new pieces were designed and created.

The payoff
Hundreds of people got a chance to see the store and pick up on the retailer’s enthusiasm about furniture design. The event also drew press coverage, which fit right in to casalife’s preference for image advertising.

Local furniture manufacturers and other companies sponsored much of the Mi Casa Su Casa event, including materials and resources used to develop the prototypes. Sponsors included Canobo, Umbrella Cabinetry, Palette Furniture, Rhoddy Design, Johnny’s Finishing Shop, Baker’s Furniture, Future Temp Glass, Plyboo, Echowood and Solutions Custom Fabricating.

In addition, students at the Ryerson School of Interior Design used the school’s interactive 3D materials lab to build one of the designer pieces.

Product installations from the Ryerson School and from the Ontario College of Art and Design’s Industrial Design Program helped show the guests how each design progressed from a concept to a completed piece.

Whitfield said a big benefit of the event was that it enabled the company to quickly design furniture pieces, many of which will actually sell.

He thinks the retailer will bring 10 of the 12 products to market, although some will be in limited quantities.

“It can take a year to bring a furniture piece to market. This process took eight to 12 weeks and we literally made 12 new products,” he said.

He is hoping to make the event an annual one for the store. He’s already thinking about who to recruit as designers.

“It’s amazing how enthusiastic people were about it,” said Whitfield.

“There’s a lot more would-be furniture designers out there than you would have thought.”

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Come join us next year once again at the Interior Design Show 2010 where we will be exhibiting our latest in green cabinetry!

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