I have never stepped foot in an Ikea. And yet, the cultural penetration of the brand is such that I get the Ikea jokes: couples fighting (both shopping and assembling); missing parts; and something distressing about horse meat.
Rhode Island company Greycork has been moving into this furniture category, both online and with a modest bricks-and-mortar showroom on Thayer Street. (This is one of my favorite buildings in Providence, the former site of In Your Ear, The Spot, and, old beatniks may remember The Rubicon coffeehouse. Greycork also has a warehouse in Olneyville.
The Providence Journal just named company founder John Humphrey an innovator to watch in 2017. He started the business started four years ago with a dream . . . and an Indiegogo campaign.
Humphrey, 28, wanted to offer an alternative to traditional big-box stores with big pieces of furniture and also to Ikea with its line of assemble-at-home products with a reputation for being lower in quality and not always so easy to assemble.
. . . With materials bought at Home Depot, he designed a prototype coffee table that could be assembled in five minutes. Soon he teamed up with Bruce Kim, a graduating student at Rhode Island School of Design, and together they began designing furniture made of solid wood, Baltic birch.
I can personally recommend both the product and the customer service having recently purchased the coffee table. Despite its minimalist, space-saving design, this thing is sturdy. It feels and looks solid. And put away the Allen wrench, the pieces — ash dowels, birch plywood, and powder-coated steel — just screw together. No tools needed.
Greycork does not seem to sell meatballs — equine or otherwise. And they seem to be having a sale this weekend.
Greycork, 286 Thayer Street, 888.257.2192, (directions)
