Fyrn
Ros Broughton and Dave Charne, co-founders of Fyrn, talk about the holistic approach of their furniture company.
Fyrn ©LizCarababas
FAME: When, why, and how did Fyrn start?
FYRN: Fyrn co-founder Ros Broughton grew up making furniture with his grandfather who was a part of the revival of Hitchcock Chair Company, a business originally founded in 1818 with the novel idea of mass producing chairs using interchangeable parts. After many years building ultra-high end pieces for well-resourced clients, Ros felt compelled to explore inventive ways to bring availability and scale to high-end craftsmanship.
This exploration resulted in our proprietary and patented Stemn System – the defining architectural feature of our pieces. Together with co-founder David Charne, who shared his conviction that a systems approach to design could solve challenges in the furniture world, the two thoughtfully built Fyrn with a core philosophy that the way something is made matters just as much as the product itself.
Dave Charne, Co-Founder of Fyrn
FAME: What is your design process?
FYRN: Fyrn takes a holistic systems approach to design – we believe good design considers future circumstances, and we begin with constraints like efficient use of materials, repairability, etc. We look within our system of design to see what pieces and processes might be able to be applied to new designs and it's very iterative; we think about design in tandem with how that design will get produced. The design evolves as our understanding of how we might produce it evolves.
FAME: What is your fabrication process?
Ros Broughton, Co-Founder of Fyrn
FYRN: Fyrn is a design AND build company; we manufacture all our pieces ourselves at our facility in Sparks, NV., and the backbone of our process is our proprietary designed machines. Quality craftsmanship requires deep knowledge + technique, and what we’ve done with Fyrn is develop machinery and processes that turn that expertise into manufacturable parts and pieces, enabling the scalability, and allowing folks without that deep and specific expertise to build careers around a craft driven process.
FAME: What makes Fyrn unique?
FYRN: As previously mentioned, we have a systems approach to design, taking greater responsibility for how our pieces come into the world. All Fyrn products are designed and built using our foundational part-and-pieces system that enables minimal raw material waste, maximum strength and durability, and easy repair and refurbishment over generations. In the effort to efficiently consider all future circumstances, we are designing every aspect of how our furniture is designed, built, bought, and owned.
FAME: What is the most challenging part of your job?
RB: We do a lot with a small team, but one of the biggest challenges is fighting back against fragmenting focus. With a small team, you wear a lot of hats, but if you wear too many it can get hard to make progress with any one of them.
DC: The most challenging thing about Fyrn is that in some ways, we a really trying to build 2 companies – a brand centered around the design and selling of amazing products, and a manufacturing business that actually has to produce all of those products, and doing both well is very very hard.
Fyrn ©LizCarababas
FAME: What do you love most about what you do?
RB: Problem solving on a daily basis. And when I see seats go out with the finishes I’m particularly fond of, it’s really satisfying to see.
DC: I love that this work is a vehicle for meeting and working with incredibly talented people across fields that I find inspiring. I’m lucky to have a reason to intersect with some of the best craftspeople, designers, artists, and chefs in the world. I love that our team isn’t afraid of trying to solve really hard problems, and that we make products that I’m proud to see in the world and know will be around for my kid’s kids to use. I love the stakes in trying to build a company from the ground up, the weight of the wins and losses, the passion that our small but mighty team brings to building this business.
Fyrn ©LizCarababas
FAME: Any tips you want to share with our reader on selecting chairs/ stools?
FYRN: Top priority when selecting chairs and or stools should be comfort! No one wants to spend time lingering over a meal with or a coffee at breakfast in a chair that makes you shift around. Resilience + repairability should be high on your list as well. Quality of materials and quality of craftsmanship is an indicator of how resilient a piece will be over time, and repairability + replaceability of parts / pieces will ensure your pieces have a long life.
FAME: what is next for your brand?
FYRN: We are expanding our product range and offering!
Fyrn ©LizCarababas
Fyrn ©LizCarababas