by MARC SCHULTZ

In a city rapidly over-saturating itself with big box stores selling cheap household accessories imported from China, it is only fitting that two unemployed Montrealers would start a killer furniture company called Furni. Devin Barrette and Mike Giles pooled their unemployment cheques and small savings to get their project started. Four years ago, Barrette, a trained cabinetmaker, was throwing around the idea of starting a furniture company. He asked his friend Giles, a natural motivator and a maverick of pop culture, to help out with the venture; they took the name Furni from a scene in David Fincher’s film Fight Club.

The pair rented a small space in a warehouse in St-Henri and bought the tools they needed to get started. They kept a strict rule to never go into debt. While they scored some interesting contracts, such as rebuilding the DJ booth at le Swimming (RIP), they continued to work on the Furni product line. “We don’t make mass-produced stuff that gets shipped out on a skid,” Giles remarked. “We want to offer things on a more limited basis so they’re a little more personal.”

It would take over two years of hard work to get their project off the ground, but this past December, Furni launched their 2005–2006 product line at the SAT during the Souk@SAT craft fair. Furni makes fine crafted tables, lamps and multiple home accessories that are both elegant and simple, but not pretentious. They design and build most everything themselves right here in Montreal and out of reverence to their idols they name each piece after famous skateboarders from the ’80s. Furni is a working example that Montreal is still a city ripe for entrepreneurs and open to great ideas—check out their clever LP record display-shelves and the entire product line at www.furnicreations.com.