Companies
Ikea-backed ‘Netflix of furniture’ eyes US debut
Nornorm lets users rent furniture for their offices on a subscription basis in an effort to cut waste and encourage circularity in workspace design.
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The company, backed by Swedish furniture giant Ikea, has struck a deal with visual collaboration platform Miro to kit out its offices around the world.
Nornorm will furnish Miro’s HQ in Amsterdam, its offices in Berlin and its workspace in Austin, Texas. The deal marks the startup’s entry into the North American market.
How it works
Nornorm puts together personalised office designs for its customers, installs the furniture and provides an app to manage preferences such as desk height.
The business is built on flexibility. Users can change their preferences and scale up or scale down their office fit outs as needed. If a client cancels their subscription, Nornorm disassembles and collects the furniture, which it then repairs and uses in other spaces.
Anders Jepsen, co-founder and CEO of the company, called the model “the Netflix of furniture” in an interview with PlaceTech earlier this year.
Announcing the deal today, Jepsen said: “Hybrid working from anywhere is here to stay. More and more work will be done in distributed teams that are collaborating simultaneously in both physical and digital spaces.
“By partnering with Miro we can shape the future or work in a way that represents a seamless integration between collaborative digital environments and adaptable workspace solutions in the physical office.
“We are not only excited to partner with Miro, but excited to unveil the better future of work it will enable.”
Bringing together the physical and digital
Apart from furnishing Miro’s offices, Nornorm will work closely with the company “to create adaptable and sustainable spaces where people thrive and are inspired to do their best work”.
The teams will collaborate on ideas to combine the best of physical office design and digital working tools.
Daaf Serné, global head of workplace at Miro, said: “In our hubs, we are creating living labs with flexible spaces designed to evolve with our employees’ experiences. And, in Nornorm, we have found a partner as committed as we are to exploring the possibilities of creating a new vision for the future of work and collaboration.”
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