When we think of flat-pack furniture it often brings to mind a particular Swedish brand, but it can also evoke images of lounge room floors scattered with components and paper instructions, or disappointingly wobbly shelves. Worse still, we may remember pieces that went together quickly but then rapidly lost their shine. Nomi is an Australian company offering flat-pack furniture at an affordable price, while defying the assumption that it is of lower quality or will have a shorter life. In addition, the platform offers a unique level of customization. The business idea bubbled along in the backs of the minds of designer Tomek Archer and property developer Michael Grassi for almost ten years before they met online marketing specialist Henry Gresson, who presented ways to engage twenty-first-century buyers.
Left to right: Michael Grassi, Tomek Archer and Henry Gresson of Nomi.
Tomek spends much of his time running an architecture practice and sees furniture design as an entirely complementary field – one being the stage, the other the prop for a continually changing life. He designed the solid timber Nomi range with this changeability in mind, aiming for a series of pieces that fit varied contexts and are aesthetically robust and immediately familiar. He describes the range as “good but simple,” designed to be modest, in the spirit of Japanese or British design, and made to last. As an example, the Dove dining and coffee tables have a square corner and a central beam. The beam allows for multiple positions for the leg, and the corner allows the tables to be placed end-to-end, so Dove can populate an office or a home.
Each piece has been hand-prototyped and then translated to computer-cut, drilled or profiled components, made from just three materials. Pieces are hand-sanded and sprayed to the customer’s choice from the Nomi colour palette. The Nomi website offers an accessible, interactive format for selection – with a piece chosen, a customer can select a colour for each of its components, their choices illustrated
Launched in October 2013, the Nomi model has already been successful and it is easy to see why. The online interface is user friendly and enjoyable, the prices are within reach and that sense of familiarity has me readily imagining the pieces within my own context or those of my peers. Reviewed against its flat-pack cousins, it is not only the elegant, solid timber aesthetic that sets it apart, but also the fine details, such as the delicately curved profile on the Woodstack chair back, or the custom bolts made for tightening with your hand or a coin.
