Escato

Capturing a new market with attractive furniture designed for local needs
Client
Escato
2019
Project
Capturing a new market with attractive furniture designed for local needs
Context
A company known for manufacturing high-quality exhibition stands wanted to enter the underserved modular furniture market in Mexico.
Solution
Mormedi developed Klik, a unique, instantly recognisable range of furniture.
What we did
Research & Strategy Conceptualisation Pre-engineering Product Strategy Look & feel Product Design
Escato, a company known for manufacturing high-quality exhibition stands, wanted to enter the underserved modular furniture market in Mexico. Escato asked Mormedi to design a range of modern, modular, and distinctive furniture according to the needs of Mexican customers.
The result was a unique, instantly recognisable series of furniture known as Klik: a brand based on the values of simplicity and high quality.
The challenge
The Mexican modular furniture market is currently underserved; even Ikea only announced that it would enter the market in 2020. Local company Escato has been creating spaces since 1989, and identified this adjacency as a large potential market. Escato asked Mormedi to design a set of modern, modular, and distinctive furniture according to the needs of Mexican customers. Mormedi designed a series of products, consisting of a bed with headboard, chest of drawers, extendable dinning table, work desk, TV stand, and a coffee table.
Our approach
We then visited the factory site in Mexico to understand how the products could best be manufactured. With this information, Mormedi produced an opportunity map to help guide the next step in products’ development. During the Conceptualization phase, Mormedi used the insights obtained during phase I to create two different design directions. Mormedi and Escato narrowed this down to one based on: 1) ease of manufacture, assembly, and delivery; 2) modularity and customization, and 3) local identity.
With these criteria in mind, Mormedi created a series of beautiful furniture pieces, combining gentle curves with straight lines, natural wood with steel. During the Pre-engineering phase, Mormedi took the design established in the previous phase and defined material thicknesses, as well as the location of every fixing, along with required volumes and a list of preferred suppliers.
The furniture was designed by Mormedi so that the product could be safely carried by consumers (i.e. boxes weighed less than 35kg). Mormedi even went as far as proposing how to optimise sheet cutting to save money in manufacturing and minimise waste.
