Nature-inclusive outdoor furniture

Over het initiatief / About the initiative

Nature-inclusive outdoor furniture

In welke fase zit jouw initiatief? / In what stage is your initiative?

Startupfase

Heb je jouw initiatief al gevalideerd? / Did you validate your initiative?

Yes, we have 2 verbal commitments to purchasing our product once we are ready and we have had multiple meetings with members of our beachhead market.

Meer informatie over jouw initiatief / More info about your initiative

We design urban furniture to create small pockets of nature at arm’s reach. Our product opens the door for people to directly or indirectly interact with nature in a convenient and accessible manner.

On top of that, we create ecosystems for animals and plants, in order to incorporate them back into the areas they used to call home.

But we don’t stop there. Our designs are also sustainable, mainly using reclaimed materials in the building process to satisfy the criteria of a circular economy. This ensures that our furniture is not only functional but also environmentally responsible.

Lastly, we want our manufacturing process to involve sheltered workshops. These workplaces help people with a distance to the labor market to join a parallel labor market, receiving income for their services and creating opportunities for them to socialize and learn new skills.

Wat is er anders/nieuw aan jouw idee/oplossing t.o.v. bestaande oplossingen? / What is different/new about your idea/solution compared to existing solutions??

The status quo of outdoor furniture is cheap and barely functional. Municipalities and institutions only care about how much money can they save when making these purchases. They totally disregard the users and the environment.

On the other hand, we offer higher quality furniture, that caters to the needs of the users way more than the current alternatives. Additionally, we help with sustainability plans in two ways. Firstly, we create small ecosystems that, when scattered throughout an area, boost the presence of fauna and flora. An added bonus is that the presence of nature around people has been shown to produce massive health benefits from psychological to social and physical. The other way we outperform our competition is by using sustainable materials and building practices. We give “waste materials” a new life, reducing the amount of waste that is produced by the construction and deconstruction industry.

Wat zijn jouw volgende stappen om het verder te ontwikkelen? / What are your next steps to develop the initiative?

We are looking for funding for our operations.

We are trying to set up our manufacturing line. For this reason, we are in contact with sheltered workshop specialists to help guide us through this process.

We are finishing our first prototype and aim to place it on the campus of the TU/e (our university).

We are setting up social medias and online presence as well as our overall marketing and brand.

Wat heb je nodig om (nog meer) impact te maken met dit initiatief? / What do you need to make (more) impact with this initiative?

Besides funding, we need expertise from business people since none of the founding members has experience in these aspects.

We are also looking for partnerships that can supply us the “waste materials” for our products.