Slow Design, Because Furniture is Worth Waiting For

“Why does it take so long?”

It’s one of the most common questions we receive — and a fair one.
In a world where furniture can be delivered in days, waiting weeks or months can feel unusual.

But at grado, time is not a delay. It’s part of the design.

 

Fast Furniture Is A Problem For Our Planet

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans threw out more than 12 million tons of furniture and furnishings in 2018. Over 80% of this lands in landfills.

The main reason behind this problem is fast furniture. It attracts consumers with inexpensive and quick purchases. However, the fast furniture typically designed to last between one and five years, is replaced more often, and creates a growing environmental burden.

• Fast-produced furniture often relies on non-recyclable composite materials and plastics. These materials can take hundreds of years to break down naturally. Once they are sent to landfills, they put pressure on waste management systems. It may also release harmful chemicals into the soil.
• The process of furniture being repeatedly purchased, transported, and discarded generates a large amount of carbon dioxide emissions. This process contributes to global climate problems. Some fast furniture also contains formaldehyde and other volatile chemicals. Furthermore, the formaldehyde remaining in some fast furniture can continuously affect indoor air quality and directly impact our daily lives.

Fast furniture is no longer merely an ecological issue, it’s also quietly lowering our expectations for quality of life.

 

grado Brand Concept

From the beginning, grado has never considered following trends as its goal in design.

We hope the furniture form grado will remain perfectly suited to different space and stages of life, even years later. Truly enduring furniture is about consistently providing comfort, reassurance, and timeless appeal through long-term use.

This is why grado has always followed a clear design philosophy: timeless design. We believe furniture should not belong to a single trend cycle. It should exist naturally across different spaces and different stages of life.

This is not just a slogan. At grado, we through materials, proportions and details to looking for a long-term balance between aesthetics and function.

Under timeless design is understated elegance. With daily use, the quality of the furniture becomes more visible over time. When a piece does not need to be replaced, it truly becomes part of everyday life.

Cosmopolitan is not a style label for grado. It means our furniture can be understood, used, and kept in different styles, cultural backgrounds, and spaces.

When the entire team works around this shared idea, speed is naturally not our top priority.

 

Why Does grado Furniture Take So Long To Make

We respect efficiency, but furniture production simply cannot be rushed.

Because the furniture is not a perishable consumer goods, It’s a part of our lives, when you eating, sleeping, reading and gathering. The longer we use it, the higher the demands become for comfort, aesthetics, and durability.

Where Does Our “Slowness” Come From

Material Selection, Which Takes Time

Take the solid wood Kitty Chair as an example. The time cost of a piece of furniture begins when it is still a piece of raw wood. We select North American FAS-grade white ash to ensure long-term structural stability.

However, this wood is not used immediately after it arrives at the factory. Before formal processing, the wood goes through two conditioning stages. The total process takes about twenty days. This step acclimate it to wherever it’ll be installed. Only then is the wood ready to be cut and shaped by craftsmen.

This step cannot be shortened. If it is skipped or rushed, problems may not appear right away. They will show up slowly over time.

 

Making, Which Takes Time

Production is often the hardest stage to speed up.

Take the curved frame of the Solar Lounge Chair as an example. It is not formed in a single step. It goes through more than ten machines and over twenty processes. Each step requires repeated adjustment.

The complex joinery demands a high level of precision from craftsmen. Even the slightest gap can affect stability and feel during future use. Even in areas you rarely see, such as the base, joints, and internal structure, the parts are sanded and calibrated again and again.

The true lifespan of furniture is often decided by details that remain hidden.

Upholstered furniture follows the same logic. From the internal frame to the foam, fabric, down-proof lining, and inner layers, each layer is handled separately. Each one needs to be adjusted and matched.

These steps cannot be sped up by an assembly line. They can only be completed step by step, with time.

 

Inspection, Which Takes Time

At grado, finishing a piece of furniture does not mean it is ready to enter your home.

Every product is sampled and tested. It goes through long-term weight and stability tests. These tests simulate the effects of extended use over several days.

Only after everything has been verified is the furniture considered to have passed this stage. Then, all details about its structure and craftsmanship are documented. These documents are used for training and quality control in every following step of production.