Amid the sea of new business opening around town, it’s hard to say which will stand the test of time and become staples in the community.
However, one company that appears to be on the path to sustained success is Floyd – a furniture company born out of the frustration of moving from place to place and constantly leaving behind cheaply-made furniture, only to have to restock new destinations with more of the same.
Initially launched on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, the company has since shipped their product all over the world, and received praise from The New York Times, Dwell Magazine and GQ.
This week marks the launch of their latest product, The Floyd Bed frame, described as a “minimal, lightweight, simple-to-assemble bed frame designed for city living.”
We spoke with co-founders Kyle Hoff and Alex O’Dell to talk about the company’s success, the launch of their new product, and the launch party planned for Thursday night.
O’Dell, originally from Frankenmuth, MI, has spent the last two and half years living in Detroit’s West Village. Hoff, hails from Youngstown, OH, and has been living in Midtown for the same time.
They met in 2013 while building out a co-working space called Practice Space. The duo also happened to live in the same building, and O’Dell saw that Hoff had a prototype of the original Floyd legs on a door in his room, which he’d used to create a desk.
After tweaking the design to the right specifications, in early 2014 their first Kickstarter campaign raised $256,273 – nearly four times their goal – and the Floyd Leg was born.
After the success of the Kickstarter project, they expanded their product line to include a shelving system, and The Floyd Utility Set, which allows buyers to make a dining table or work desk from any surface material.
This product alone has since shipped to over 40 countries, and garnered immensely positive feedback from customers all over the world.
Building on the success of their current product line, the duo is now set to launch their next venture – The Floyd Bed Frame.
Their original product, the Floyd Leg, re-thought the table. Now they’re re-thinking the bed frame.
If you live in a city, purchasing a bed that lasts isn’t easy. All of these new direct-to-consumer mattress companies online are alleviating the headache of getting a mattress, but what will you do with it? Throw it on the floor? You need a frame, but that can be a pain to get ahold of.
“The Floyd Bed Frame is a minimal, lightweight, simple-to-assemble bed frame designed for city living. It is the newest addition to Floyd’s continuation of products designed around the essentials for the apartment and embodies what made our previous products successful,” said Hoff.
What are those things? Well, it ships right to your door, arrives in a carrying bag & is designed and manufactured to last. The cost for a Full is $495 on their Kickstarter.
It’s clear that Floyd is onto something with their simple and effective product line. I asked them about competition in the furniture industry, and what sets them apart from the big box retailers like IKEA, who most of us lean on to fill our day to day furniture needs.
“Floyd is about designing products that fit how people are truly living,” Hoff says. “Furniture from big box stores might be cheaper, but they are destined for the landfill and have a business model built on a culture based on consumption.”
One of the most impressive aspects of the company is their utilization of the wealth of manufacturing opportunity in Detroit, which is now an integral part of their business model, and their DNA.
“Detroit has always been a part of our DNA,” says Hoff. “The pieces we design are about designing within the processes of what manufacturers are already doing. It’s about going to our facilities, seeing how they produce; which processes could work within design concept we are running with.”
“There is such a spirit of innovation in Detroit and when paired with the rich manufacturing history in the region, the city allows for great working relationships for designing revolutionary furniture products.”
If we haven’t inspired you to check these guys out, then pay them a visit and see the product line for yourself at their product launch party this Thursday.
From 6-8 p.m. at their offices at Ponyride, located at 1401 Vermont in Detroit, you can enjoy a free happy hour event where the Floyd Bed Frame will make its first public appearance.
So what’s next for this savvy gang of product wizards? Well, it seems there’s no end in sight at the moment.
“This is just the beginning for us,” says Hoff. “We are on a mission to change the culture of furniture consumption & we have many exciting things planned in the works over the next year and onward.”