La Fabrique AllWood: great ideas to furnish our spaces

La Fabrique AllWood accompanies its customers from the design to the custom-made manufacture of wood and steel furniture. An interview with Méghane allows us today to sketch, in the following paragraphs, the universe of this factory which has become large.

The first sketches

The designation “factory” well represents the beginnings of this company, in 2014, in a small garage in Saint-Denis. “The guys started making furniture when they left their family home,” Méghane tells us about her high school friends with whom she now does business. It is with feedback from those around them that their potential is revealed. She studies design and her friends come from the construction and engineering market, a good mix to turn ideas into reality.

It is by uniting the complementary strengths of its founders that, in just a few years, the AllWood Factory has gone from a garage to a workshop with an area of ​​6,000 square feet. It now has about ten employees to its credit. The product that first made him gain notoriety is without a doubt the dining table and its matching benches. Since then, the three founders have continued to amaze with theircreations : bookcases, consoles... almost everything you can imagine. As the wood and steel are worked in their factory, this brings flexibility in the range of possible achievements.

A culture of proximity

“Sometimes we spend entire days with our clients to build their homes, so having clients in the United States is not currently aligned with our corporate culture”. In any case, the demand from Quebec and Ontario keeps them busy, a majority of Canadians having taken advantage of their year at home to improve it. Commercial developments once took a prominent place and mainly included restaurants and co-working spaces. The commercial/residential ratio is now 50/50 since the arrival of the pandemic, although some restaurants are taking advantage of the break to do some work.

The local trend

There is definitely a move towards buying local, but big box stores like IKEA are also overwhelmed with renovation projects. For Méghane, the choice of the company to which the consumer will turn depends on how long he wants to keep his piece of furniture. It is not impossible that products will eventually be mass-produced to capture part of this market by reducing manufacturing costs and, by extension, product prices.

Also, if more people choose them, their products will become more accessible to all budgets as the fixed costs will be absorbed by a greater number of consumers. Custom manufacturing times are approximately eight weeks for La Fabrique, which is often less than that of chain stores that mainly offer imports.

Eco-responsibility at the heart of operations

All wood species worked come from Quebec, except for Canadian walnut, which is less available in the province. The steel also comes from Canada. The fact that almost everything is produced in the workshop reduces the ecological footprint, the only exception being the "powder coating". Requiring large ovens, the process is done in a nearby company. Finishing products are mostly water-based or natural, although some oil is used in commercial products. La Fabrique AllWood also strives to recover wood scraps.

Constant innovation

In the spring of 2020, a small collection made from ash salvaged from diseased ash trees in Montreal was supposed to be presented at the Index Design show, but was put on hold as demand exploded. This is only a postponement.

The production of sanitary stations , made by hand in the workshop, allowed operations to continue during the first wave of the pandemic by creating essential work. They have been popular in hospitals, among other places. A few other small items are available on the online store . “In the past, the website made it possible to accompany the customer in the conceptualization of his table, but many contacted us to make adjustments,” explained Méghane. The website was then revised to drop the creation of ''semi-custom'' tables and focus on the creative requests of customers.

Entrepreneurship as Young Adults

Starting a business at a young age makes Méghane say that entrepreneurship has taught her everything. Indeed, it was for her and her associates the first experiences in accounting, marketing and other processes necessary to run a business. The learning curve is then very rapid and follows a discovery of one's strengths and, naturally, work on oneself.

For the coming year, the AllWood Factory plans to start again on a foundation strengthened by the lessons learned from the pandemic and continue to adapt.

Reviewed by MF Editorial