My name is Daniel Fairburn and in 2013 after having spent several years designing, engineering and marketing furniture for major players, I quit my job and with a £50k loan, started the task of rethinking how furniture is designed, sourced and brought to people.
The furniture industry, like most industries, was dominated by the major players. Opening physical shops was expensive, and often, the best locations were already snapped up by the known establishment. It was tough for small folk with big ideas to enter the market - then the internet changed everything. The technology driving the internet helped level the playing field and for the first time in history, new furniture retailers could show you their products without having to spend millions of pounds on big shops – which was nice because we didn’t have millions.
Our first order was from a gentleman in Somerset for two deckchairs on the 6th April 2013. He sent us an image of the deckchairs in his garden on a lovely spring morning with a note of how he wished he was staying home instead of going to work – our journey had started. We couldn’t afford pushy, expensive “brand” advertising but lucky for us, the editors of some of Europe’s leading glossy magazines liked our designs and gave us press coverage for free.
Two years after we started, we won the ‘House Beautiful Gold Award for Best Furniture’ ahead of a major player we won’t mention. Our happy customers show and tell their friends too, which helps. Having started with just a handful of new products, we’re liberating the possibilities of how you can enjoy furniture in your home and garden and now have over 300 new designs – our collection grows every month as more and more of you give us a try.
Why Buy From Us?
We believe in a simple process. From helping our customers understand our furniture’s constructions and materials to how we buy and deliver the furniture from our suppliers – everything has to be straightforward because complicated things cost us all more time and more waste.
We’re a brand who likes to challenge and disrupt the way things are done. Although we’re still much smaller than the bigger established players, we’ve got more heart, and for that reason we’ll keep on pushing boundaries. Our goal is to give people the chance to explore what furniture makes them feel good in their home and to perhaps give buying online a try for the first time.
If you are someone who appreciates having the time, space and advice to explore possibilities of what you might buy, then maybe Out & Out Original is for you. If you've ever been that person who's checked the internet to learn more about a product or even price check whilst in a store, then Out & Out Original is definitely for you!
We know at times it feels safer to buy from the known establishment or even to get sucked in to buying something not quite right, but before you do that, try to remember the last time you explored and tried something new and how liberating it felt. If you think it could be fun to do that again, give us a chance.
Your sincerely,
Daniel Fairburn
Founder