An Airy New Crowdfunded Furniture Design by German Brand Movisi

 

GROW!, a lightweight modular furniture system by German design brand Movisi

In many forms, we live in a transient culture; we are a much more transient people than we were even just a decade ago. People move between cities, residences, jobs and lifestyles at a much faster pace than ever before, and real estate trends are showing that this movement will not slow in the near future.

Because of this cultural movement, we’ve begun to pack lighter. We’re fitting ourselves into tiny houses and smaller workspaces; we share more and are more attentive to things like ease of use, convenience and sustainability.

Enter Movisi, a German furniture company founded in 2009 on the concepts of flexibility, mobility and sustainability. Specializing in manufacturing simple shelving, partition systems and seating, Movisi’s products are all 100% recyclable and free of toxins, glue or emissions. It’s modular furniture systems are often applied to offices, fairs, events and residences.

“We want to create furniture which is different, sustainable, and manufactured in Germany, or at least in the U.K., where we feel we have control over the quality,” says Natascha Stojanovic, founder and CEO of Movisi. “Movisi is about modularity and keeping people flexible.”

GROW! was launched on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo in May of 2017.

Movisi found major success when it launched its modular shelving and partition furniture system, BUILD, in 2013 – at that time the most successful crowdfunding campaign for an item of furniture, ever. The brand’s clients include Google, Paul Smith, The Design Museum, BMW, The United Nations New York, The BBC and Ferrari; and it’s furniture lines have been created by designers such as Karim Rashid, Pearson Lloyd, Peter Marigold and Antoine Phelouzat.

 

A retail store application of GROW!

This May, Movisi introduced GROW!, its most flexible and lightest furniture system made from 95% air, manufactured in Germany and designed in Paris by Marine Peyre. As with its BUILD product, GROW!, launched on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, where anyone, design community or otherwise, can pre-order the product. Once the platform gathers the prescribed monetary goal, Movisi will place the order to manufacture the product for customers who purchased it on Indiegogo.

GROW! is a lightweight modular furniture system that builds on one single element comprising three basic components – a main U-shaped module piece, connectors made from the same material, and a lid, which can also be used as an optional stability rib for seating or as a back piece to connect to the wall.

The design intent is to offer specifiers and design lovers a single product to use and build into any interior environment – home, office, retail store, trade fair booth or studio – in endless (over 10,000) configurations as seating, storage, tables, room dividers, shelving and more.

GROW! in an office application.

“We wanted to create one piece that can do a lot of things,” says Ms. Stojanovic. “We believe that should adapt and grow with you. We listened to our customers, people keep asking us for something even simpler and more flexible. It’s the most flexible thing we’ve created. You can grow it into depth, creating really any type of space. And we want to create pieces that require no tools and no expertise to assemble and use. GROW! is very much like a Lego piece.”

“GROW! embraces the lightweight, multifunctional, organic design language that Movisi pioneered, utilising only one single material to make the product – ARPRO EPP, a 100% recyclable non-toxic plastic foam, which is emission free and extremely lightweight (300g, made from 95% air and 5% PP per module),” notes GROW!’s product description.

A kitchen applications of GROW! The product is made from ARPRO EPP, a 100% recyclable non-toxic plastic foam, which is emission free and extremely lightweight (300g, made from 95% air and 5% PP per module).

Currently available in black and white, each GROW! piece is lighter than a loaf of bread and requires no assembly tools.

GROW! is playful and simple, and it offers people the contentment that comes with purchasing something with new and dynamic possibilities.

 

“We do not believe furniture has to be heavy to indicate a high level quality,” says Ms. Stojanovic. “We all have static furniture in our lives; this is an alternative. We want to create furniture that adapts with you.”

BUILD Modular Shelving by Movisi, introduced as a success in 2013 – at that time, the most successful crowdfunding campaign ever for an item of furniture.

This culture of airy, lightweight furniture pieces speaks to the transient, ephemeral way people live today; the airy quality of Movisi designs is also innately sustainable.

“It saves fuel in both air and ground transport, as there’s no protective packaging needed inside the box; you just need the box structure,” said Ms. Stojanovic. “We just had a UPS guy come by, and he thought the boxes he was carrying were empty.”

Movisi has attended imm Cologne and Orgatec in Cologne, Germany, as well as London Design Week and design events in New York. And it hopes to expand its presence in other markets and regions.

“The United States is a great market for us,” says Ms. Stojanovic. “People there seem to really like what we’re doing, so we’re excited to expand there even more. We would love to attend NeoCon in the future.”

 

LINK, designed by Pearson Lloyd for Movisi, is a freestanding, modular partitioning system that features units that easy link together.