Who
Hi, I’m Joe. I've spent my entire professional life in the furniture industry—starting on the shop floor, eventually working my way into the design office. Over the years, I've observed many aspects of developing and producing furniture that have left me with questions: questions about things like impact, utility, & design. Extra domestic is an attempt at addressing those questions while creating better products through more mindful processes.
What
Extra: [ek-struh] “beyond or more than what is usual, expected, or necessary.”
Domestic: [duh-mes-tik] 1. “of or relating to the home, the household, household affairs.” 2. “of or relating to one's own, or a particular place”
Furniture should be easy to put together & take apart. There's no question: flat-pack furniture has revolutionized how we buy things. In many cases however it has made home assembly unnecessarily complicated, and subsequent disassembly almost impossible.
Furniture should be designed and built to last. So much of what we buy today is mass-produced with little concern for longevity. We take the opposite approach, designing every piece with the hope that it might one day become a family heirloom.
Furniture should have minimal impact. It's hard to compete with a global marketplace, but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying. To me, it's difficult to justify the resources consumed by global commerce when we have renewable materials and incredible talent in our own backyard.
Why
Our goal is to make objects that people want to live with and keep forever—objects that are accessible to as many people as possible and made from materials and resources that exist here in North America. Our consumer culture is in dire need of a perspective shift. We believe Extra Domestic is a step toward a better, more sustainable relationship with both the planet and the objects we choose to surround ourselves with. We believe that taking the time to do things right always pays off in the long run.