Meet the Team: Green Furniture Concept

Now in their second year as our partners on Love That Design, Green Furniture Concept have collected many notches in their design belt. Their global portfolio has grown incrementally, and they have put their sustainable design stamp on many a public space.

We spoke to the leadership team handling Middle East and Africa, including Johan Berhin, Designer & Founder of Green Furniture Concept, CEO Jonathan Nilsson, Dr Nawar Alatassi, Area Manager Middle East, and Mostafa Fahim, Area Manager West Africa, to learn about their recent successes and challenges, and key future plans…

About the brand’s ‘Secret Sauce’…

“We make a space become a place by filling it with identity, meaning and function,” says Jonathan. “We want to help people create positive experiences and memories by providing ambient places to rest, socialise and work. The places that we create boost visitor satisfaction, which is good for commerce. Green places also make room for more – more seats, more functions and more flow of people.”

“We work with few but large scale clients that give us the ability to invest time in learning our customers’ business and to listen very carefully to their specific demands”

– Mostafa Fahim, Area Manager West Africa

This is exemplified in GFC’s Modularity Green Furniture, which is a modular seating system for public interiors. It is made from modules of individually bent wood slats that can be joined to shape a number of creative, seamless configurations. And its possibilities can facilitate seating for 30 to 50 percent more people in any given area, as compared to traditional seating. Furthermore, GFC furniture can fit any size and shape of space, adapt or change movement in the room, and be customised to fit a given colour scheme.

GFC’s focus is medium to large public interior environments. As Johan Berhin, Designer & Founder of Green Furniture Concept, said, “Public seating is about offering a pleasant place to be. The furniture should speak personally about the place and to the people there”.

“This means we work with few but large scale clients that give us the ability to invest time in learning our customers’ business and to listen very carefully to their specific demands,” says Mostafa. “This results in a good opportunity to improve sense of place, customer satisfaction and sales. We believe in long term relationships, and our furniture is there to last.”

Sustainability and durability

The brand is proud of hoisting its green flag to the world, and prove how sustainable products can also be functional, look beautiful and last longer. “Sustainability guides our development and is part of our soul as a company,” says Jonathan. They have a cyclic, holistic approach, that is implemented towards the raw materials and pervades into the company’s business model. They also take full responsibility of the state and function of their furniture over time, offering a buyback guarantee for reuse purposes.

“To really make a difference, sustainable companies have to make an impact,” says Johan. “People have to want sustainable products more than they want the lesser sustainable. And there’s a pretty simple trick to getting there – just make sure the sustainable products are better.”

Recent successes and challenges

The company is currently on a vertical trajectory, having been contracted with some major public projects in the recent years, from furnishing the entire central IDL of  London’s Stansted Airport in December 2018 to the many French railway stations as well, including the Central Station of Aix en Provence, and the railway stations of the new TGV fast train line that travels from Tanger to Marrakech past Casablanca and Rabat. As Passenger Terminal Expo kicks off in the end of March 2019, two more projects on the London railway stations will be added to their portfolio. Bravo.

Conducting business in the Middle East and Africa region

“Sweden with its non colonial history has a good reputation in Africa and the Middle East in terms of product quality, environmental policies, respect for human rights, and good conduct in general,” says Dr Nawar. “All this allows us a good launch platform for conducting business. In this region however, relationships and trust are a crucial factor; in fact, I believe they are the most important success factors.”

Future plans, direction and growth

The brand have an exciting new series currently in the research and development phase. Clients can also look out for new and innovative designs, such as the place shaping, seamless standing tables, Recliner seating for long stays, and the Perch bench for a quick rest. Furthermore, some new planning tools are in the works that will allow designers to create ‘Places’ in scale with the building they’re housed in. And lastly, clients can look forward to some new colour concepts that will be showcased at various trade fairs.

And to give you an idea of the faith they have in their products…