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    At the beginning of 2024, we set out a series of goals that would guide the rest of our year. 

    We wanted to be greener, to source more of our materials from our own islands, and to further help our contractors and project partners with furniture made with the same great attention to detail but a much faster turnaround.

    As December comes to the zenith, and the holiday season takes us out of the office and into our homes for a brief period of regeneration, what we’ve achieved over the past year takes on a new life of its own. We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done, grateful to the partners who’ve helped us along the way, and looking forward to continuing our work in 2025 – that of building a future that is better for the generation that comes after, and for the generation after that one. 

    Here are our personal highlights of 2024.

    Sustainable timber, years in the making

    There have been plenty of watershed moments throughout the year for Furnitubes, but for Catherine Barratt, owner and CEO of Furnitubes, this year’s proudest achievement is finally perfecting, and launching, a sustainable alternative to FSC Iroko. 

    “We’ve spent over two years of rigorous research and testing looking for a more sustainable alternative to FSC Iroko to support the environment and our supply chain,” she says. “Launching Endura, our thermally-modified ash range, just really feels like we’ve once again brought innovation to the industry, and that we’re leading by example to reduce our impact on the planet. It’s wonderful.”

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    But besides the launch of the Endura timber range, Catherine is full of pride for the projects completed throughout the year. The IKEA projects – from Hammersmith to Cardiff – all hold a soft spot in her heart, but it’s the Canterbury High Street completion, in the city she calls home, that has taken project of the year for her.

    “Every weekend I can see the impact our furniture has on the pedestrian city centre and I feel proud to have contributed to its success,” she says.

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    There’s even more to be proud of: the launch of the product configurator, a digital catalogue of Furnitubes’ modular ranges, is already active across five separate lines, with more in development for next year.

    Furthermore, Catherine mentions a relatively late, but important, new addition: a curated range of powder-coating hues to add a little more colour to our cities – fifteen shades painstakingly selected to showcase the best of British heritage and industry.

    As 2025 comes nearer, Catherine has even more plans.

    She mentions wanting to carry over a tradition that was actually suggested, and pioneered, by her team: Furnifest, an internal, company-wide event that gives everyone in the business time to get together and learn, hands on, what it means to work at Furnitubes. She’s also looking forward to finally completing a laborious research project on the impact of street furniture in outdoor public spaces. This will enable Furnitubes to take more concrete, research-backed steps into achieving their ultimate goal – transforming every outdoor space into a realm of wellbeing.

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    Teamwork, shared responsibility, and Furnifest

    The team is not without its own memorable moments. 

    Guv, specification manager, has a personal achievement: taking on the role of tenders manager in addition to his existing work as the one who follows client specifications into sales and, ultimately, to products. “I’ve found that I’m working in an amazing team,” Guv says, grinning, “from Bony in sales, the design team, Catherine and the factory.” As for his proudest professional moment, this one is easy: the launch of the configurator, and the five included lines – AKRI Snap, Railroad, Fortis, Elements, and Uniun.

    The frenetic pace of Furnitubes’ new launches have also taught him a valuable lesson: the number one takeaway he’s taking with him into 2025 is to keep going. “Never take your foot off the gas,” Guv says, sagely. 

    He’s also looking forward to something the team has mentioned, often: Furnifest, which let several team members get hands on in the factory.

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    Understanding business from the ground up 

    There is a sense of great pride and ownership that’s shared amongst team members, a deep understanding of their place in the business, and more importantly, of the value that they bring to each individual element. Part of it stems from the fact that they’re encouraged to know the business from the ground up, a highlight that Lauren, design engineer, is very passionate about. 

    Like Guv, she mentions Furnifest as a highlight of the year, saying, “it was a great opportunity to get to know more of the team, especially as it was not long after I joined the company.” Moreover, she appreciates the value of knowing exactly how each individual product comes together, and being able to see the full process, from machining to assembly. 

    However, the number one lesson she’s heading into 2025 with is the value of teamwork.

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    For Lauren, that was what Furnifest was about: the importance of working with other teams, and knowing parts of the job outside of your own role. “Getting insight from the factory on how to better our designs is really valuable and makes the products as well designed as possible, taking into account each stage of the manufacturing process,” she says. 

    It’s true regardless of the work: when speaking about one of her best memories, she adds, “visiting our powder-coating facility was really interesting and a great way to understand the colours and finishes available to us – and it was really key to refining the Furnitubes colour palette.” 

    Having only recently joined the team, it takes only a moment for her to pinpoint her favourite product launch – the AKRI Snap, one of the first ranges that she was involved with from start to finish, and also one of the first ranges represented on the configurator. “It was very rewarding,” she concludes, smiling.

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    Team-wide engagement and the value of communication

    For Theo, this year taught him a lot about the value of strong communication across teams. He forms part of a two-person design team – himself, and Lauren Walls, and the communication between external teams such as Sales and Production were critical to ensure projects were delivered on time and met client expectations.

    Furthermore, Theo noticed that working on similar ranges offered its own benefit – his favourite project this year was the AKRI Snap, a modular flat-pack offshoot of the AKRI 300 and AKRI 600 ranges, that offers a scalable planter solution with shorter turn-around time. He says, “it really captured the experience and knowledge we have obtained through countless AKRI 300 and AKRI 600 projects.”

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    However, the highlight of the year for Theo was the teamwork and company-wide engagement it took to develop the Furnitubes colour palette – a process that took months to complete fully, and a deep look at what colour could add to outdoor furniture opportunities. A similar highlight was the thermally modified ash launch, now offered throughout their ranges as an additional timber option.

    Finishing the year with new goals

    Most of Furnitubes’ 2025 new product plans are tightly under wraps, but Catherine offers one more clue about what’s to come: a new range of furniture designed with their partners, the timber reclamation company Ashwells Timber. 

    It’s been an exceptionally busy year for Furnitubes: one that has allowed them to embark on a series of projects that are as different from each other as they are from what’s previously been done. When asked what this year has taught her, Catherine is thoughtful, for a moment, and then brightens. 

    She smiles as she says, “no one scheme of modular furniture is ever the same!”

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