“You can buy less today because you can return tomorrow for help reconfiguring, re-planning or moving your existing furniture.” *

Vitsœ is a shelving and storage manufacturer and supplier. It was founded in the late 1950s as a radical design-driven company, introducing a modular and timeless design philosophy to products. Its vision is to manufacture furniture to last as long as possible, be adaptable and infinitely reusable, and discreet. The company specifically eschews built-in obsolescence and furniture trends.

Vitsœ’s model offers an example of a business driven by purpose – sustainability is embedded throughout the business, where vision, value, and organizational culture drive the initiatives on sustainable consumption and production. It sources locally for most components and materials, and all small businesses. The company actively aims to ‘infect’ its suppliers with the Vitsœ vision and works with the suppliers to introduce cost savings and waste reduction.

The business reflects longevity, durability, modularity, inter-changeability, and closeness to customers. The key ingredient is trust, so the customers know that the company has their best interest in mind. The products are designed and manufactured for the best possible service. By not continuously introducing new products, the company avoids having to discount/sell off end-of-line stock –customers buy when they need what they need, rather than binge spending driven by discount offers.

In October 2017, Vitsœ’s new production building and headquarters opened at Royal Leamington Spa.  Aligned with a systems-thinking approach and “the quest for longevity underpinning every design decision”, Vitsœ’s new home, like its sufficiency-based business model, is an exemplar of sustainable design and architecture.

The company focuses on encouraging sufficiency, reducing environmental (waste, material use, carbon emissions), and social (working conditions, recruitment standards aligned with the company’s values) impacts, whilst contributing towards improving the quality of life and facilitating sustainable consumption behavior of consumers.

According to Vitsœ’s inspiring Managing Director, Mark Adams, for sustainable enterprises to flourish, there is a need for novel investment models to raise funds that break the attachment to the accumulation of money and consumption.

* Taken from the Vitsœ Ethos.

Find out more about Vitsoe’s philosophy and products at https://www.vitsoe.com/rw

This case study and video were featured with the kind permission of Mark Adams,

Managing Director of Vitsœ.

Video produced by fablez