We asked Eva’s Head of Operations and Product, Jason Mok, and Head of Design, Tom Shaw, to tell us a bit more about this Australian furniture company on the up. Eva’s brand-new showroom opens this weekend at 186 Faraday Street, Carlton.
Habitus Living: How would you describe the design philosophy at Eva?
Jason: We try to create products in a way that reflects our brand ethos – which is Thoughtful Everyday. When we think about creating products, we think about how our customers live and what problems they face – and try to create beautiful products that look incredible, but are also functional and thoughtful, enhancing our everyday.
We also like to critique all of our product based on a high threshold of whether they are accessible, reliable and thoughtful – we’ve always wanted to make products that are accessible to everyone, both in pricepoint, but even in how easy they are to assemble. And lastly, as part of our commitment to sustainability, we want our products to be reliable and last a lifetime. We also ask us ourselves: is this something our customers can pass down to the next generation and become a favourite Eva family heirloom?
Is it fair to say your aesthetic is essential and minimal?
Tom: When we first started the journey of designing furniture, we tried not to focus too heavily on the aesthetics of the product so that it could maintain a really broad appeal. As a result, the aesthetic has become very simple and honest in its nature. We wanted to create furniture that anyone could own, no matter what style your home was. We originally referred to it as the ‘white sneaker’ of furniture, in the sense that everyone owned a pair and they can go with virtually any outfit.
Tell us about your whole process – from design to manufacture.
Jason: The whole process is really long! But it starts with being really collaborative. We get our commercial-focused teams – such as Product Management – in the room and combine the creativity of our Design teams to ask some really tough questions like: what do our customers really want, and how can we use design process to solve this? We always want to make sure we’re adding something of value to what’s out there, and not part of creating more product for the sake of it – and just more clutter and waste.
From there, there are rounds of in-house prototyping with the use of local suppliers based in Melbourne. Depending on how complex the product is, things can involve multiple rounds. Once we have proved the concept, and gone through a couple of rounds of approvals, we take it to some friends (or friendly customers) to test the product before we go to sampling with our manufacturer.
For manufacturing, we work very closely with our dedicated overseas suppliers – providing them with drawings and support daily on how to manufacture our product. Often our team travels to the supplier a couple of times during one product development phase, just to make sure we can really bring to life our designs and products to the highest of qualities.
Often manufacturing overseas is seen in a negative light, but from our experience, if you can form a really strong collaborative and trusting working relationship with your suppliers – and treat them as an extension of your team – you can create incredible products together that customers love.
Last but not least is the huge team effort across the whole Eva company to bring the product to market. This includes photoshoots, making sure the essence of the product is captured in our marketing, training and support for our customer support team to help explain the product, and just overall getting the products to our customers when it’s time for release.
The Slideaway Sofa Bed seems to have caught people’s attention. Why do you think that is?
Jason: Oh, that’s great to hear people are loving our Slideaway Sofa Bed as much as we do!
When we started the project, we said as a team: there’s a gap in the market, where there’s no sofabed that is great as a bed, but also looks amazing as a sofa. It seemed liked customers had to make compromises – and I’m really proud of as a team to have brought our Slideaway Sofa Bed to the market, where customers really don’t have to make that compromise. And that’s why I think it’s resonating with people.
How important are utility and detail in the design?
Tom: In terms of design, we focus a lot on the utility of a product and the little details that enhance the customer experience. When we start the design process of each product, there is a lot of research on how people live with a certain product and what can we do as a design team to push that experience and deliver the unexpected. These little design moments, such as the coasters that come with the Hideaway Coffee Table that are made from offcuts or the way that the Slideaway Sofa Bed effortlessly transforms from sofa to bed. These are the things that make out product memorable. It’s a term we refer to as ‘thoughtful design.’
What do you think distinguishes Eva as a furniture brand?
Jason: I think what makes our brand unique is that level of care. And I hope people can see that through the way we invest in our ‘slow design’ process – we’re not rushing to make something that’s mediocre or cheap, but we care enough for customers, and Earth, to slow it down and make something we proud of, unique products that are Thoughtful Everyday.
Tom: I think from a design perspective, we are really trying to challenge people’s perception of flatpack furniture. Flatpack is notorious for being poor quality and difficult to assemble; we’ve flipped that and designed products that are great in quality and easy to assemble.
