The Agile Story: Who we are and what we do
Founder Erik LeBrun was born and raised in New Brunswick, Canada. Having a natural inclination towards arts and science, it was only natural that he’d go on to study Architecture, first in Québec City, then in Brussels, Belgium, before coming back to New-Brunswick after finishing his Master’s Degree.
During his studies and travels he was forced to move a lot: 9 times in 7 years, to be precise; an exploit fairly common among folks of his generation. With an eye for design and an eco-conscious mind, abandoning quality furniture with every move proved as much of a burden as finding a way to bring his furniture with him! And so he started creating collapsible plywood furniture for himself, better suited to his lifestyle than classic furniture.
While still working in architecture, the founder also worked in the furniture salesman in a high-end furniture store, and in this way discovered the underside of the industry: white-labelled « brands », poor quality materials of unknown origins, poor build quality, and to top it off, huge mark-ups. This is where the idea for Agile really started to take shape: If a manufacturer could sell directly to customers and so avoid the typically huge reseller mark-ups, better materials and processes could be used all the while keeping prices reasonable.
What’s more, by refusing the off-shoring of labour and by keeping the workshops right here in Canada, we’d save money and carbon emissions on container-shipping our stuff back to us, all the while being able to keep an eye on our workshops to ensure good working conditions and an ethically made product!
It’s all these considerations that make Agile products in a class all of their own. Our furniture is designed to be made with the most ecological, yet cost effective materials we could find, hence our choice of Purebond Plywood, by Canadian sawmill Columbia Forest Products. They use sustainably harvested (FSC certified) Canadian birch for this product, both for core and face, while laminating everything with a patented soy-based glue that’s devoid of any formaldehyde and phenol, unlike other plywood.
We think of sustainable furniture with the widest scope of sustainability in mind. That’s to say we make our products with the objective that we could make these products forever without harming: 1) our environment and 2) the people partaking in its production and its use (including the end of its life). It’s with this second objective in mind that we use the best materials we can find to make our products non-toxic. Beyond our plywood, we also put a great deal of effort in our finishes by using all-natural Tung oil almost exclusively. Tung oil not only looks great and provides a durable finish for our pieces, its completely food-safe and does not emit VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) that could pollute your indoor environment. Even the solvents we use to thin out the oil and facilitate application are food-grade and locally sourced.
We’re mighty proud of what we’ve accomplished here, to be sure. And although our products aren’t perfect (nothing is ever perfect in this world), we’re improving them all the time, making them just a little bit sturdier, prettier, or more sustainable still. Thanks to your continued support, we’re going to change the furniture industry for the better, little by little!