Although the concept of flat pack (or ready-to-assemble) furniture has been in existence for decades, a new generation of designers have been taking on the challenge of designing functional and aesthetically-pleasing furniture pieces that are capable of being broken down into boxes that aren’t just easier to ship and haul – but also reduce many of the costs associated with pre-built furniture.
In the last year alone, these efforts have included consumer-friendly software that enables users to create their own flat pack designs and have them fabricated on a per order basis, to even an ex-Apple engineer who wants to make moving furniture as easy as carrying an iMac box.
But despite these well-intended efforts, most of these products have sacrificed basic design sensibilities in favor of cheap materials and qualities that one might expect with college dorm room furniture that isn’t built to last.
Like many other products that were born out of frustration, husband and wife team Sarah and Dan Mirth knew that there had to be a better option for compact and multi-purpose flat pack furniture designs for urban professionals.
“The company was born out of frustration with the lack of options in the market,” said the designers.
“For our own homes and office spaces we wanted highly functional pieces made from lasting materials and weren’t able to find them readily available – so we decided to make our own.”
The result is Artifox, a new St Louis-based furniture company that ships single-tool assembly (which is provided with each order) furniture designs in flat pack boxes. Currently, these include a vertical bike rack and a standing desk with a writable surface and considered features for today’s users including easy cord management and power outlet accessibility.
Using materials including black walnut or white maple hardwood along with aluminum and powder-coated steel, the designs are intended to look great while also being capable of standing the test of time – a true test that many other flat pack furniture designs would most certainly fall short on.
Find out more by heading over to Artifox.
