EDITs
Winter 2019
High-End Modern Furniture
Goes Direct-to-Consumer
“It seems inevitable that a portion of the design market will go in this direction, and I want to be among its new protagonists.”
Launched in summer 2019, EDITS is the passion project of Richard Trory, a Vancouver-based furniture designer and entrepreneur with a love of high-tech industrial production, old-fashioned craftsmanship, avant-garde design ideas and elegant aesthetics.
After working at industry leaders such as Design Within Reach, Bensen and Vitra in Switzerland, Trory returned to Canada to focus on creating a vehicle for his own design point of view. At the same time, he observed the rapid rise of a new breed of direct-to-consumer (DTC) furniture brand in what he terms the “mass modern” market ― brands such as Article, Burrow, Floyd and Interior Define. He saw these brands luring away customers from traditional mass-market modern furniture stalwarts like Ikea and West Elm by removing layers of retail overhead and selling only online.
Witnessing this dramatic shift in attitudes to buying furniture sight unseen, Trory felt now was the time for a new North American brand bold enough to add a direct-to-consumer business model to the heavily entrenched high-end “design-furniture” arena.
“Companies like Vitra, Cappellini, and Hay are truly design driven and take an uncompromising approach to curating their collections and executing a designer’s idea,” Trory explains. “But sadly, this kind of design-forward furniture is largely missing in the middle market.” Trory saw the DTC approach as an opportunity to make this level of design significantly more accessible. “It seems inevitable that a portion of the design market will go in this direction, and I want to be among its new protagonists.” And so, EDITS has set a course in this new direction.
Appropriately, EDITS’ inaugural line, the Circus Collection, focuses on perhaps the most venerated and debated design object of all: the ubiquitous chair.
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Photo 02 | Modern, elegant and comfortable; Circus at home.
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Photo 4 | Sophisticated robotic woodworking for the backrest.
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Photo 03 | Craftsmanship guides every detail.
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Photo 01 | Beautiful details and flawless quality.
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Designing a chair is a special project for any designer. It has to look good from every angle, support its occupant, be comfortable, be robust enough to take years of use and abuse, be sustainably and economically produced and, most critically of all, it has to bring something new to the table. With thousands of chairs having been designed before ― including those in famous museum collections at places like the MoMA and Vitra Design Museum ― any new design has to offer a unique and innovative perspective. Perhaps this is why the introduction of new chairs is covered and discussed so closely by the design media at annual design fairs like Salone del Mobile and ICFF. Or, as explained perhaps more poetically and simply by the French designer Ronan Bouroullec, “A chair is like a pop song: everyone loves a good new one.”
WHY ANOTHER CHAIR?
From the user’s perspective, whether it’s at a lively dinner table, waiting for a flight at an airport café or spending a day in a co-working space, a simple yet comfortable chair can set the mood, turn the day around or determine a course of action. Often this appreciation for chairs is subconscious, but when you find the perfect one — one that combines comfort, utility and aesthetics that resonate — it’s the chair you want to return to every time.
That desire for a balance between high-concept, high-quality design and everyday accessibility led Trory to start EDITS by developing just one collection of “fantastic” chairs rather than the typical new brand approach of building a lifestyle collection of multiple pieces quickly brought to market. As Trory explains, creating and developing world-class design requires a significant time commitment and investment in engineering and production tooling, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. “We only had enough money to do one really amazing product, but I wanted to do that rather than develop a half dozen not-quite-so-exceptional pieces.”
But all that time, effort and investment appear to have paid off. The Circus chair successfully melds several innovative construction details and economical production with a unique visual character to create a truly new and meaningful design.
The characteristic large bentwood back of the Circus Wood chair is the result of innovative bending technology and sophisticated robotic woodworking, while a unique bayonet detail connects the backrest to the molded solid aluminum frame in a completely invisible way. Similar innovations exist on the fully upholstered Circus Soft version and the Circus Barstool. The resulting collection embodies Trory’s belief that “any design has to contain a certain ‘plus value’ ― the sum is greater than the parts. The greater the sum, the greater the design.” But these innovations are not just for their own indulgence either. They ensure Circus is elegant and distinct but also tremendously strong, durable and comfortable.
Of course, this sum of parts is not only about the legs, wood components, plywood parts and textiles sourced from a network that includes some of the world’s best component manufacturers in Asia and Europe, before being assembled and finished by craftsmen at EDITS’ primary production partner in Montreal. The parts are also emotional. “Each component must be evaluated for how and what it expresses in terms of character, modernity and nostalgia,” Trory says of his additive method of design. Taken all together, EDITS’ initial collection is minimalistic and harmonious, yet also subtly complex.
High-Quality Design
and Everyday Accessibility
“We only had enough money to do one really amazing product, but I wanted to do that rather than develop a half dozen not-quite-so-exceptional pieces.”
The Circus Collection comprises three related variants — the classic exposed Wood, fully upholstered Soft, and the high-backed elegant Circus Stool barstool — while each model comes in three standard finishes: Natural, Black, and Trory’s favorite Japanese-Red. The Aluminum frames are available painted matte White, Black, or Mirror-Polished, as well as a number of on-trend colors for the Circus Soft including Forest Green and Japanese Red to match textiles. Custom fabrics and custom RAL-color paints are also available through custom orders.
Only sustainably sourced FSC-certified White Ash is used for the wood, while only 100% post-consumer recycled Aluminum is sourced for the molded legs. The fabric collections offered are all made from natural fibers. while all glues, paints and finishes are water-based, non-polluting and non-toxic.
Because the Circus Collection is comfortable, functional, and beautiful, the chairs are designed not only for homes, but also for hotels, restaurants, bars, offices and co-working spaces, and even airport cafés. Unlike the vast majority of mid-priced chairs, all EDITS designs meet BIFMA test standards and guaranteed to hold up commercial use. Standard delivery time is 3 weeks from order for quantities less than 24 pieces, and no more than 8 weeks for larger orders.
The circus collection
Sponsored by
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“EDITS is about my passion for design, first and foremost,” Trory says. “My motivation throughout my career has simply been to make meaningful, lasting, beautiful design.”
“Overall, I really wanted to make a chair that made a statement about how chairs should be made in the 21st century,” Trory says. “Industrially yet sustainably produced, technical engineering, more robust than what has come before, with references to modernist nostalgia, essential minimalism, and classic elegance.” The EDITS Circus Collection is all of this and more.
“Overall, I really wanted to make a chair that made a statement about how chairs should be made in the 21st century”
EDITS online shop goes live on November 22, with an opportunity to preorder Circus at a 15% discount until January 2nd. Discover the collection on EDITS website.
In conjunction with this preorder offer, EDITS is also celebrating with an Instagram Giveaway, with an opportunity to win 4 Circus chairs in your finish of choice, including delivery. You can enter here @edits_design.
Explore the collection
editsdesign.com
Above all, a chair must bring something new to the table.
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