Interior design: Inspiring ideas

Horizons

Friday, March 22, 2019
For many entrepreneurs, their passion for quality materials is matched only by their desire to satisfy their customers. Here are five Quebec companies creating stylish objects and interiors that are as functional as they are beautiful.

Jarre

Montreal company Jarre, headed by Gabrielle Falardeau and Élyse Leclerc, applies industrial design to the fight against food waste, while at the same time providing decorative, functional objects for interior spaces. The pair of entrepreneurs, who had always wanted to start a business together, work in particular with wood, ceramics and Corian to create their range of ingenious objects. As an example, one of their big sellers, the Denise, allows fruits and vegetables to be kept fresher for longer by taking them out of the fridge and putting natural preservation methods to work.
 

Woodstock & Cie

The brainchild of Catherine Tapin and her boyfriend, Woodstock & Cie’s business model involves the creation of partially made-to-measure solid wood furniture. In order to offer their products at the best possible prices, the pair eliminated as many intermediaries as possible and focused on the importance of reducing the company’s carbon footprint, which they accomplished by getting involved in replanting trees and using only native wood species.

 

Meubles Arboit-Poitras

Meubles Arboit-Poitras, which produces a range of interior furnishings using wood and local materials, was first launched in Lanaudière in 1951. Three generations later, the company is headed by Maude Verstraete, who took it over from her father when she was just 24, the end result of a well-thought-out business transfer process.
 

M2GO

Vincent Gagnon decided to put e-commerce to work in order to offer shoppers an agreeable shopping experience at competitive prices for his decorative objects and furnishings. With the help of a transactional website, M2Go connects buyers to suppliers directly, and locally, so that orders can be shipped within very short timelines.
 

Luminaires Authentik

Partners Pierre Gagné and Maude Rondeau started their company in a garage in Bromont in 2015. Since then, Rondeau has taken over as head of the company and conquered the hearts of Quebecers, particularly hotel and restaurant chains, which make up most of the company’s customer base.