SERVICE DESIGN – While furniture rental
is not an entirely novel concept – we already
touched on new entrant Kamarq last year
- it’s still far from commonplace. Develop-
ments over the last 12 months, however, hint
that the furniture industry’s future might be
service rather than sales led, with the poten-
tial to transform how designers create for and
relate to a new generation of users – one that
has fallen out of love with ownership.
The most gravitational among current
leasing plans comes from Ikea, which kicked
off 2019 by adding detail to its long-mooted
move into the rental game, with office
furniture-based trials launched in Switzer-
land and an imminent shakeup in the way
it retails its kitchens. The Swedish giant is
promoting the shift as a way of achieving its
ecological aims, but it also implies a desire
to develop a deeper relationship with its
customers. ‘When this circular model is up
and running, we have a much bigger interest
in not just selling a product but seeing what
happens with it and that the consumer takes
care of it,’ Torbjörn Lööf, CEO of Inter Ikea,
told The Financial Times.
Alongside leasing strategies, Ikea is
increasingly providing parts for repair and
introducing buy-back/sell-on schemes, moves
that not only suggest the end of its associa-
tion with obsolescence-focused design but
also provide an array of interesting formal
challenges. Ikea is hardly renowned for deal-
ing in heirloom pieces, but this new model
demands the manufacture of products that
will continue to have an appeal to secondary
and tertiary users.
For those on expanded budgets,
West Coast US start-up Fernish is bringing
furniture rental to the middle market, offering
products from the likes of Campaign and,
from last summer, working in collaboration
with main-street stalwart Crate & Barrel.
Fernish’s target audience is made up of
young, mobile consumers who don’t want to
sacrifice their interior fit-outs just because
they’re renting a space for only 12 months.
The scheme allows brands to build familiarity
among younger customers who may return
to them when they finally settle down, while
renters gain access to a higher quality of
furniture than would make financial sensefor short stays. The Fernish ecosystem relies
on working with suppliers who can achieve
certain levels of build quality, meaning that
articles can survive several cycles of owner-
ship, a potential boon to those companies
that have continued to invest in maintaining
standards of craft, construction and material.
Meanwhile, UK start-up Harth, which
launched in mid-2018, is looking to the high-
est end of the spectrum, enabling customers
to access objects from leading-name design-
ers, artists, galleries and private collectors.
Think Tom Dixon, Lee Broom, Maarten Baas
and Martine Bedin – and add the opportu-
nity to mix and match at will, without the
need to remortgage. While the advantage to
consumers is clear, there are also benefits
for the manufacturer; pieces that would
otherwise be occupying expensive warehouse
space generate revenue, while still remaining
a saleable asset.
Will the industry embrace this para-
digm shift? With the promise of improving its
ecological credentials, yielding fresh income
streams and introducing products to a new
demographic, why wouldn’t it? Yes, there are
challenges to be met – establishing repair
pipelines, logistics networks and effective
insurance programmes – but if the trade-off
enriches the public’s relationship with design,
and does so sustainably, it seems well worth
the effort. – PM
harth.space
fernish.co
ikea.comMight you
soon choose
to rent the
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