Kavuus: The Canadian furniture retailer that can customize anything you order

Jan 31 2018, 7:56 am

Designing your home can be tough. Choosing the right colour paint for the walls is one thing, but after that, you need to focus on what really matters: The furniture.

After all, these key pieces really bring a room together.  It’s the furniture that tells a story about your personality and showcases your style. Come on, you can’t say that you’ve never had a favourite chair!

The only issue is that sometimes you’ll find the sofa of your dreams, only to discover that it doesn’t come in the colour that you wanted. And that’s heartbreaking. Thankfully, however, there’s an online Canadian furniture company where you can customize every product you order: Kavuus.

To give you some more insight, we spoke to one of the managers of the Vancouver-based company, Billy, to find out what makes their contemporary brand rock.

Where did the concept of Kavuus and the unique company name come from?

Kavuus is derived from the Finnish word “Mukavuus”, which means ease or comfort.  When we started our furniture business, we believed in offering modern and mid-century modern furniture at an affordable price. We also believed that furniture shouldn’t just be beautiful pieces of art but should be functional and comfortable as well. Since many of the modern and mid-century modern designers were Nordic, we felt that Kavuus (derivative of Mukavuus) best described what we were all about.

What inspired you to create furniture for the home?

Kavuus/Facebook

At Kavuus, we believe in beautiful, functional home furniture. Our inspiration is not only derived from mid-century designs, but also modern day home décor. We believe in pushing the boundaries of conventional furniture designs and expanding the limits of our imagination.

We are also inspired by everyday living. We believe that every moment is precious. It’s this philosophy that drives us to create beautiful furniture for the place where you spend the most time. This is home and home is where the heart is.

What does furniture mean to you?

While you don’t think about this too much – home furniture is often part of the memories we build and sometimes it is associated with who we are. Have you ever had an armchair that you associated with Dad or Mom? Or had a rocking chair that reminds you of a grandparent? At Kavuus, we believe that furniture is all of these things. We build furniture that are not only pieces of art, but also articles of comfort. Our furniture is designed to last and hopefully tells a story of the one who owns it.

Your firm manufactures and sells products directly to customers in Canada, how does this work out better for the buyer?

Kavuus/Facebook

For our custom upholstered products, we are a manufacturer-direct business.  As a direct-to consumer custom furniture manufacturer, we cut out the traditional middle men and pass on these savings directly to the customer.  For example, since we also don’t operate any fancy public showrooms, we’re able to reduce our operating costs and pass these savings back to our customers.  Typically, most full-custom furniture manufacturers charge consumers $8000+ for custom pieces. We’re able to do this same work at a fraction of the cost. We leverage our volume purchasing and technology to make us more efficient.

Another advantage is that we are a Canadian manufacturer. All of our sofas and sectionals are created by us in our Canadian factory. In this way, not only are we able to provide full customization in a shorter period of time, we’re able to have full care and control over every stage of production. This ensures the highest quality possible. This is unlike many other furniture companies who exclusively import their products from factories with unknown or inconsistent quality and controls.

Where do you source design inspiration for your products?

Many of our inspirations come from a variety of areas. While our team consists of designers and owners passionate about design, we draw much of our inspiration from what was old and how we can make it new again.  Some of our inspiration comes from our everyday living. This can be from a nature hike where we draw our inspirations to an interior design show where we see creative and innovative things from other innovative minds. Many of our designs are also inspired by the mid-century classics and Scandinavian designs.

At what point did you realize this was what you wanted to do in life?

Kavuus/Facebook

A few of our partners realized the gaps in the home décor market when they first purchased their new home. While Vancouver has become a very expensive place to live, they wanted a quality product that can fit their cozy space at a reasonable price.  They looked at many different furniture stores. Much of the furniture was either imported from cheaply made companies or furniture well out of budget. Also, some of the rooms they were furnishing were either irregular shaped or required some furniture customization. This realization was the beginning of an idea that blossomed into Kavuus.

What turns a house into a home?

Home to us is our place of refuge. It’s a safe place. It’s a place of rest and familiarity.  Our living space should tell a story about us.  In a way, your home is an expression of who you are. Whenever you go to someone’s home, you will notice photographs, art, furniture, and home accessories. However, if you know the story behind the photos or art, you will get some insight into the person living there.

When you sit on their furniture and look at all the art and souvenirs displayed, you get a sense of the owner’s personality. This is when you have turned a house into a home. Home is an expression of you. Home is where the heart is. Kavuus strives to transform your house into a home by building beautiful long lasting furniture that embodies the owner. We are able to customize your pieces to give the furniture your personal flare.

What makes a Kavuus product stand out from other furniture options?

Kavuus/Facebook

Kavuus differentiates itself from other online furniture companies by selling a lifestyle that people can connect with. We only want to build beautifully designed pieces that will last so that our customers can make their house into a home. Your home is a place of refuge where precious moments and memories are made. We believe that we offer the best value as compared to other furniture options. We also differentiate ourselves from other furniture companies by offering high quality and fully customizable Canadian made products at an affordable price.

How do you want people to feel when they use your products?

We want people to feel confident and comfortable with the products they purchase from us. The confidence in the quality of the product and the comfort of the pieces they sit on. We want our customers to not only love the furniture we make but to share those sentiments with the family and friends who visit them. We hope that our customers feel that the furniture we build are pieces they can connect with and pieces that reflect who they are.

What challenges do you face as a Canadian business? What advantages?

While doing business has many of its challenges, the greatest challenge for us is to manufacture a high-quality product at affordable prices. We want to continue to make products with the highest quality materials and workmanship while keeping it affordable. We believe that we have achieved this and will continue to keep improving.

Unlike many cheaper furniture businesses that strictly rely on overseas manufacturing, we can build furniture faster and have better quality controls. We can customize extensively where others who only import cannot. Also, it could take four to six months for furniture to arrive from overseas whereas we can build high-quality beautiful pieces in four to five weeks when needed to do so.


For more information and to shop the whole range of customizable products, visit Kavuus now. Check out the brand on PinterestFacebook, and Instagram, to get the latest updates and design inspiration.

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