Smart Furniture: The Original Inspiration
Smart Furniture was originally imagined in 1995 at Stanford University by Stephen Culp, a Naval Reserve Officer, attorney, and former Peace Corps Volunteer. The idea came during a visit to Yahoo!, a startup at the time, where growth was creating real space-management headaches.  Living in a dynamic and diverse environment like the San Francisco Bay Area, Culp quickly realized that it wasn’t just Yahoo!, but all kinds of people, in all kinds of residential and home office environments, who needed furniture to adapt to their changing needs.  So, in a small workshop in a professor’s garage, he and some friends set out to create the first Smart Furniture.

Empowering Customers with DESIGN ON DEMAND™ (DOD)
Everybody’s situation is different, of course, but nearly everyone has a need for a simple, creative way to make their space more attractive, productive, or even just more organized.  Culp had learned the value of ‘helping people help themselves’ in the Peace Corps and applied the same principle to a business model he calls “Design on Demand™”.  From homeowners designing a living room or home office, to loft dwellers needing to use space creatively, Smart Furniture was created to empower customers to design their own spaces, quickly and easily.

Designing the Product:  Simple, Versatile, Attractive Designs— Fast
In workshops from Silicon Valley to Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Smart Furniture product line was designed to let customers design what they want, when they wanted it— the essence of Design on Demand.  The result has been an award-winning, patented, and tool-free line of products that enables customers to design custom solutions faster, more conveniently, and more cost-effectively than ever before.  And while design aesthetics are a key element of Smart Furniture, the ability to have fun and be creative is just as important— almost like “Legos® for adults.”

Building the Platform: SmartFurniture.com
The next step was to empower customers to design, order, and receive everything from individual Smart Furniture units to full interior layouts, quickly and easily.  To get there required hiring the best and brightest in technology, order fulfillment, and quality control.  The result was www.SmartFurniture.com, a simple but state-of-the-art visual interface where customers can visualize what they need, click to order, and receive it within 5 business days or less.

Perfecting the Practice: The Best Customer Service in the Industry
The most important part of the plan has been a focus on hiring smart people with integrity and a world-class customer service ethic.  Smart Furniture takes pride in its customer service team, and promises to provide the best service in the industry, a commitment recognized and awarded by the likes of the National Retail Federation, American Express, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and Dell Computer.

Chattanooga as a Launching Pad
Chattanooga, Tennessee is renowned for its quality of life, and held a personal and professional draw for Culp, who had spent much of his childhood there.  Equally important was what Chattanooga had to offer a growing business— an entrepreneurial climate, robust technological infrastructure, and a formidable transportation hub.  To this day, the Smart Furniture flagship product is still 100% American made, manufactured, warehoused, and shipped from Chattanooga and the local area.

Changing an Industry: Custom Solutions for All
Through Design on Demand, Smart Furniture is opening the door to custom interior design for everyone, empowering individuals to design their own spaces without hiring an interior designer or design firm.  “Each one of our customers is unique, with unique needs, and we don’t expect them to put up with cookie-cutter offerings or lackluster customer service,” Culp states. To that end, Smart Furniture relentlessly pursues innovative ways to make its company, its products, and its service the best in the industry.  

From Woodshop to Web: Looking Forward
What started out as an idea in a professor’s garage in Silicon Valley has become a small-town company with a global reach, serving thousands of customers across the nation and beyond.  And that level of service will continue to improve, including our award-winning website SmartFurniture.com, with enhanced ease and aesthetics, and our customer service team, as we listen to you and incorporate your requests.  From coast to coast, Silicon Valley to Chattanooga, Tennessee, Smart Furniture brings together smart products, smart technology, and smart people to provide one thing: the best products and customer service in the industry.

Thank you for your interest in Smart Furniture and our story.  We look forward to serving you. ■