With rising concerns for climate impact and the effects our consumption is causing, a rapidly growing part of consumers all over the world, regardless of industry call for products that are
MORE SUSTAINABLE, MORE CIRCULAR, MORE TRANSPARENT and CARBON NEUTRAL.
Essentially, they want products that are GOOD FOR THE PLANET.
We´ve seen fast moving industries being toppled creating new upstarts and billion dollar companies. As an example in fashion we can look at Patagonia or Veja and in food, companies such as Oatly and Impossible Foods.
Consumption of physical goods is the largest direct source of yearly carbon emissions by western households. In Denmark for example 39%.
Today’s furniture and home goods production is not only polluting but also seriously lacking transparency. This can be changed by offering new designs that are smarter and better for the environment.
Making no compromises on aesthetics, FÓLK develops products that contribute to a more sustainable, circular and transparent industry of home goods.
Ragna Sara Jónsdóttir, Founder and Creative Director of FÓLK Reykjavik
Incumbents of a massive worldwide industry move slowly as changing legacy processes is very expensive.
80% of a product's environmental impact is decided in the design phase increasing the importance of new products for transition from legacy
A product's lifecycle in the industry is much longer than in food or fashion.
Brands that can support the transition to the circular economy and climate neutrality have a competitive advantage in the industry. Transparency and production knowledge of CO2 low or free products will increasingly become a competitive advantage.
Change from legacy will be led by entrepreneurship, innovation and design thinking that are central to FÓLK’s strategy.
The market is projected to reach $66.7B in 2030 by this time the fastest moving incumbents aim to be carbon neutral. As an example, IKEA estimates that they need 8 years and a €600 M investment to be able to reach a circular and sustainable supply chain.
By having built the whole supply chain from the ground-up looking at sustainability and circularity FÓLK has built a truly scalable, future proof design platform for high impact.
Building value through a strong brand and R&D platform of sustainable and circular materials and production methods.
Today, the agenda for the future of furniture design is being set by fast growing Nordic ventures leading the change to a more sustainable future for the industry. Having accumulated extensive knowledge and experience around circular product development FÓLK is among the front runners and is looking to lead the change globally.
The investment community seems to be starting to see the potential as for example shown by the recent investment of the growth fund Nordic Alpha Partners in Danish Mater Design, with the aim of ten folding the turnover in next seven years. Source: Møbelproducent lander tocifret millioninvestering og sigter mod international ekspansion - Wood Supply DK (wood-supply.dk)
At FÓLK we believe that partnerships up and down the value chain will make the transformative change needed in the supply of sustainable, circular and CO2 low products. We have already formed partnerships that have the possibility to change how we make home goods and furniture.
FÓLK has already finalised a first closing of our round, with preference shares from Icelandic ESG fund Eyrir Voxtur and loan from Danish Vækstfonden, a total of EUR 700k.
We are flexible to increase the round up to EUR 500k, for a total of EUR 1.2m, to support FÓLKs commercial scale up internationally over the next 24-36 months, involving among other things establishing a sales company in Denmark: FÓLK Copenhagen ApS.
Our main focus will be to build the FÓLK brand, scale the sales of our existing 100 SKU's, increasing the number of agents and resellers internationally as well as broadening the portfolio of products and delivering on our brand promise. We will simultaneously build a strong R&D platform around designing and producing from circular and climate neutral materials that can be leveraged further in the future.
We are open to a dialogue with strategic investors, funds or angels that would like to take part in our journey to disrupt a huge international legacy sector needing drastic change to adapt to the current demands of consumers, corporates and pending EU regulations.
If you're interested to know more contact: sara@folkreykjavik.com
To see the selection of products FÓLK has already developed, take a look at our recent Circular Design Catalogue featuring new products and our 2021 Product Catalogue:
