Designers: Jeffrey Forrest, STACKLAB, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Manufacturer: Jeffrey Forrest, STACKLAB, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Creative reuse has been around for centuries. Take antique collecting and the restoration of vintage furniture for instance. What is new however is the technology and its shareability.
Enter STACKABL. It is an innovative tech solution that is trying to help solve the sustainability problem within the furniture industry, which produces nine million tons of refuse every year. STACKABL’s aim is to divert this material from landfills and to “turn waste into wonders.”
STACKABL is a joint venture between Jeffrey Forrest, founder and director of the multidisciplinary design firm Stacklab, and Maison Gerard, one of the world’s leading design galleries. The company has set out to create an environmentally-friendly platform that changes the way interior designers and consumers think about collectible and custom design.
STACKABL removes the friction from the traditional design, build, and order process. Forrest explains: “This process is an experiment in designing in reverse. We start with the bigger issues and material constraints and reverse engineer until we arrive back at the product. This model allows us to re-shore jobs and support local economies in a scalable way. The possibilities for what can be designed are endless.”
STACKABL is a proprietary, patent-pending digital configurator platform that allows designers and consumers alike to choose from a live inventory of leftover material from regional manufacturers to create unique pieces in real-time, with cost and lead time calculations built-in. These furnishings are then produced and drop-shipped.
In its first iteration, which debuted at Salon Art + Design 2021, STACKABL offered a selection of manufactured leftovers to choose from: premium Merino wool felt remnants, recycled aluminum, ethically harvested wood, and recycled PET. These materials were then designer-configured into high-end chairs, daybeds, benches, and settees.
To introduce this platform to the market Maison Gerard turned to some of their top designers, including Drake/Anderson, Georgis & Mirgorodsky, Champalimaud Design, Frampton Co, and Laura Kirar, to create their own customized piece and show the Salon audience what is possible with the technology.
If the designer series can be thought of as a “couture” line, up next is the release of STACKABL’s “ready-to-wear” pieces.
Once the Direct-to-Consumer configurator is available — at stackabl.shop — the prices will be dictated by the user, allowing for a broader audience to participate. The goal is to be able to drive down the costs of materials as STACKABL grows. STACKABL has lofty goals of revolutionizing and democratizing collectible design — and the know-how to back it up.
“This innovative project,” says Maison Gerard owner Benoist F. Drut, “has the potential to redefine our relationship with the materials we choose to make furniture with, prioritizes protecting the Earth, and has the goal of bringing a broader audience into the world of collecting.
