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For innovative minds, furniture market is the next stop. With the Indian consumer willing to splurge on interior decorations, top lifestyle furniture and home accessory stores across the country are introducing lifestyle furniture made out of different natural materials like grass or tree bark and even paper!

The Indian furniture industry, estimated to be worth Rs 35,000 crore ($8.80 billion), is growing at 20% annually, offering immense scope for trendy innovations. Brands like Home Town and Good Earth have come up with natural craft-based line of furniture which would render a refreshing look to your sofa, dining sets and beds.

Made up of raw materials like water hyacinth, river grass, banana bark and lampakanay grass, the furniture is equally durable as the solid wooden, leather or metal furniture. While Good Earth imports its ready furniture from all across the world, especially South-East Asian countries, Home Town has tied up with micro units in villages of Karnataka, Kerala and north-eastern artisans to manufacture and sell products across their stores.

The difference indeed is reflected in the prices. Where a natural fibber sofa set might start from Rs 60,000-80,000 at Good Earth, the same might cost around Rs 30,000 at Home Town. Though the new range of natural craft-based furniture has been accepted well in the market, it still caters to a niche segment of customers and is yet to reach a large customer base.

“There is no doubt that it’s a nascent market. When we launched an entire range of natural craft-based furniture, it was keeping in mind a certain segment. Though our range is quite inexpensive, it will certainly take a few months for this line of furniture to get enough buyers,” says Home Town CEO Mahesh Shah.

Agrees Good Earth stores manager in Mumbai, “Our clientele consists of celebrities, industrialists and corporates. Apart from sofa sets and beds, there is a good market for coffee tables, arm chairs and mirrors made up of water hyacinth and banana bark worth Rs 20,000 and above. We have clients from Maharashtra and Gujarat, who make purchases worth Rs 15 lakh-18 lakh at one time. This line of furniture registers more than 30% of our total sales in a year.”

Good Earth is also coming up with stores in Bangalore and New Delhi-Saket and might soon launch stores in Bangalore, Chennai and Ahmedabad. Still waiting for many takers is the furniture made of corrugated boxes. The furniture is light-weight, child- and eco-friendly.

Dharmendra Pandya, president of Gujarat Corrugated Box Manufacturers’ Association, says there are a few offices going for corrugated furniture. Also, people who like to change their home setting often like this kind of furniture. “The chairs made of corrugated paper can take the weight of up to 200 kgs. The furniture is very affordable. The range for a corrugated chair starts from Rs 4,000 onwards,” he adds.

Citing the advantages of corrugated boxes, Mr Pandya says, “It’s trendy, affordable, eco-friendly, is easily movable and can be dismantled and re-assembled.” The furniture is quite popular in Japan where corrugated paper is used for making low chairs, stools, sofas, book shelves and newspaper racks.

“Corrugated cardboard furniture could be popular among advertising agencies since it is trendy; parents for their growing children and those who like to change home decor often,” says Somesh Singh, head of Apparel Design and Merchandising, NID.

Neelam Chibbar of Bangalore-based furniture store Industree Crafts Pvt has been working with artisans in South India for a decade to make accessories out of natural fibres and has now graduated to furniture as well.

“We make bags, floormats, laundry bins, desk accessories, dining sets, beds and sofa sets. Our turnover is around Rs 4 crore alone in Bangalore. We are also expecting to register at least Rs 1 crore sales from branded outlets in different cities,” she says.

An NID designer herself, Ms Neelam believes that manufacturing the furniture in micro units turns out to be a lot cheaper, without any compromise on quality. “We have good market for such a range here in Bangalore. We should be in cities like Ahmedabad and Noida in the coming season, by joining hands with branded stores,” she adds.

Weblink: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_ ... 681461.cms
Source: The Economic Times

Isnt all this stuff too expensive. Infact seriously doubt its any greener that regular furniture especially with all the importing stuff adding to the footprint and ofcourse with its small penetration I doubt it will have any impact on greening the furniture market.
I heard Ikea is going to get into indian market(http://www.financialexpress.com/old/fe_full_story.php?content_id=137683).. that will be soemthing to watch i guess in furniture sector.

Hi there, Would a new one like me be welcome here?
Thanks so much in deed.


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Of course this forum accept everyone, right? And thanks for the news. I think it's time for furniture to go green as well.

there is a introduction section for this kinda chat. but i am pretty sure everyone is accepted.

Global warming is affecting many parts of the world. Global warming makes the sea rise, and when the sea rises, the water covers many low land islands. This is a big problem for many of the plants, animals, and people on islands. The water covers the plants and causes some of them to die. When they die, the animals lose a source of food, along with their habitat. Although animals have a better ability to adapt to what happens than plants do, they may die also. When the plants and animals die, people lose two sources of food, plant food and animal food. They may also lose their homes. As a result, they would also have to leave the area or die. This would be called a break in the food chain, or a chain reaction, one thing happening that leads to another and so on.
The global warming will increase humidity in tropical deserts. Also the higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere trigger plant growth. As predicted, due to the global warming the sea levels will rise.
http://www.globalwarmingsurvivalcenter.com

I am wondering these all staff is to expensive. Yeah, like that is right global warming is can affect entire world. But we can do anything to get worst the global warming, we can plant tree then get minimal to use some polluted air like diesel car. My seo with dining sets