Behind the design of our new Field Collection

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Stories, updates, and interviews from Burrow

Behind the design of our new Field Collection

Behind the design of our new Field Collection

Getting into the details with Director of Product Design, Franklin Cresencia, and VP of Merchandising, Eva McCausland.

Considering we started with a single sofa system (our beloved Nomad Collection) less than five years ago, it’s pretty remarkable to step back and look at how our catalog has expanded since then: to tables and shelves, pillows and rugs, and more. But we’ve always considered thoughtful curation to be a guiding philosophy for the brand; we’re all too aware of how shopping for your home turns into studying for an exam with all the options out there. Which is why, until now, we’ve only launched two seating collections. Today, a third design enters the arena: the Field Collection. It’s the culmination of years of work, starting with several rounds of research and countless prototypes as we got ready for launch.

The story of Field is a story of hidden details and design exploration. After we launched the Range Collection, our second modular seating system, we were able to enter a new aesthetic space, a very contemporary and Scandinavian-influenced taste profile. “We had Nomad as this classic, archetypal mid-century anchor on one end of the spectrum, and Range offered a much more modern option, but we needed to start sketching out something in between those two poles,” explained Franklin Cresencia, our Director of Product Design.

Research confirmed that hunch. We heard from dozens of customers that they were searching for something that balanced the two; something versatile that could settle into the scene of a room rather than commanding attention. Eva McCausland, our VP of Merchandising, summed it up: “All of our products are based in extensive quantitative and qualitative research, and one thing that kept coming up is that people wanted a sofa that felt approachable, sort of laid back and easygoing, so we made sure Field could be dressed up or down to fit different looks.”

A clear niche identified, the team charted a course for this new collection. They decided to build on top of the patent-pending modular platform we developed for the Range Collection – taking everything we learned from a year of real-world testing and thousands of customer data points to iterate and improve on the system. Sharing parts and hardware is also more efficient: it means we can produce fewer pieces and extend the lifetime of both collections at once.

Pictured here: Field Armchair

Research confirmed that hunch. We heard from dozens of customers that they were searching for something that balanced the two; something versatile that could settle into the scene of a room rather than commanding attention. Eva McCausland, our VP of Merchandising, summed it up: “All of our products are based in extensive quantitative and qualitative research, and one thing that kept coming up is that people wanted a sofa that felt approachable, sort of laid back and easygoing, so we made sure Field could be dressed up or down to fit different looks.”

A clear niche identified, the team charted a course for this new collection. They decided to build on top of the patent-pending modular platform we developed for the Range Collection – taking everything we learned from a year of real-world testing and thousands of customer data points to iterate and improve on the system. Sharing parts and hardware is also more efficient: it means we can produce fewer pieces and extend the lifetime of both collections at once.

Pictured here: Field 4-Piece Sofa

The foundational engineering established, Franklin’s group began exploring how to make something that felt unique. Where Range has integrated, sculptural cushions, Field has much more traditional, detached cushions; it allows you to fluff them up a bit, move things around and generally style the sofa in your own manner. That also plays a role in comfort, he said: “If you’re taller or shorter you can move the cushions to give you support in just the right spot.”

Field really does strike a balance between Nomad and Range. It takes the best of both worlds, and introduces a handful of tweaks and improvements that will make their way back into the other collections, all in the name of constant iteration. For example, we developed a brand new packaging system to go with Field that uses zero plastic, uses less cardboard overall, and is significantly easier to unpack when it arrives in your home — and starting in 2022, we’ll start using the new packaging for Range, too.

That dialog between old and new, and commitment to learning and improving, is a big part of our commitment to fewer, better things. We’ll never be a brand with dozens of different couches — we’d rather remain focused on making a handful of really excellent designs that can stand the test of time. With Field, we feel we’ve kept that promise, and we couldn’t be more excited to see it in real homes soon.