Did you ever order furniture, spent countless hours trying to assemble it, only to find that your shelf is three centimeters too long? Or that you stopped liking it after a month and couldn’t return it? Tylko is a Polish furniture startup that suggests a brand new approach to selling shelving: they take care of every single detail and make sure that you get your order personalized – just like you want it.
“Our customers’ needs are met from start to finish – from personalizing the perfect-fit shelf, to easy in-home assembly. Our technology based on parametric design and augmented reality might sound like rocket-science, but it really simplifies the way that furniture is made,” explained Benjamin Kuna, one of the Tylko’s co-founders. “Now, from the comfort of their homes, our customers can see their shelf design in real life before even buying it.”
Tylko puts the customer in the center of the design and purchase process. Thanks to responsive design, each customer can choose custom dimensions of their furniture (down to a centimeter) – a special algorithm tweaks the design so that shelves don’t lose on their appearance or functionality. An augmented reality app lets the customers see the product in the designated space before the purchase.
The company puts special emphasis on the quality of their product. Their furniture is sustainable and durable thanks to the material – slow-growth birch wood. All shelves come flat-packed, are extremely easy to assemble, and can be returned within 100 days on no other ground than “I changed my mind”. Shipping is free in the whole Europe.
Four of Tylko’s founders have already cooperated before – in 2011, they have co-created the Bridge Design and Technology Studio that provided creative services based on augmented reality, 3D printing and digital fabrication. Hanna Kokszyńska is a design specialist with profound experience in management. Mikołaj Molenda has an architectural background with expertise in video installations. Jacek Majewski is the Creative Director, while Benjamin Kuna is responsible for Tylko’s partnerships and external relations.
Until now, Tylko has gathered over 3000 satisfied customers and countless desktop users, and their AR app has been downloaded over 50,000 times. At the beginning of March, they have raised 3.1 million dollars in Series A round from Paua Ventures, G+J Digital Ventures, Experior Venture Fund and Daftcode Ventures.
What about their future plans? “We are in the midst of expanding our product portfolio,” said Jacek Majewski. For now, they will probably focus on storage units, even though they also sell customizable tables. “We also plan to scale our marketing efforts to reach even more customers,” added Majewski. One of their concerns will be decreasing the shipping time – currently, the customers have to wait up to six weeks for the ordered products.
