Modern Heroes: Venoor Living

Today’s Modern Heroes are Venoor Living who bring distinctive and stylish furniture to market with a conscience. We caught up with the founders to find out more.

IDEALIST: Can you tell us the story behind the brand?

Venoor: The inspiration behind Vênoor Living is this idea of creating a community that was entirely sustainable, socially responsible and environmentally accountable. Vênoor is a lifestyle that we would like to spread such that by one “Living Vênoor” they are living beautifully and living responsibly. The name Vênoor comes from my ancestral hometown of Venur, which is in Mangalore, located on the southwest coast of India. My ancestors were timber merchants and hence the connection.

In the wake of corporate greed and mass consumerism we have taken it upon ourselves to challenge the nature of consumerism, slow things down and give customers the option to make a real lifestyle choice when purchasing our products. We aim to unite the spheres of sustainability and aesthetics to create exquisite designed furniture with sustainable origins, and accessible to all.

We are a team of enthusiasts, with backgrounds in design, commerce and logistics.

IDEALIST: Who are your key people and what are their roles?

Venoor: We at Vênoor are a community. Our roles are defined by the values we share. As such the people of Vênoor are a pooled network of like minded individuals with varying talents and capabilities. We are a team of enthusiasts, with backgrounds in design, commerce and logistics.

More importantly, our people are those who inspire us. These are the families of the master craftsmen, who have dedicated generations to achieving perfection in their work. They are the rural communities bound with inhospitable environments and devastated lands. These people are at the forefront of our process and a part of everything we do. These people push us to reciprocate.

Inspirations

IDEALIST: Where do your designers/buyers get their inspiration from?

Venoor: Throughout our travels we were fortunate to have met some of the most amazing, talented individuals with these families of master craftsmen, spanning generations as well as some incredible designers of both furniture and interiors alike. It is a pleasure and an honour to communicate ideas and get the chance to work with some of these legendary families. We are fortunate to have been connected to this network of craftsmen, designers who quite literally have dedicated their lives to creating beautiful furniture.

Good things take time, and we appreciate the attention to detail. We have these ideas that we communicate to designers, who have too travelled the world for influence, they map out renderings, based on their experience with particular styles with a focus on making something unique yet on trend. We will then pass on these designs to our team of master craftsmen, respective of their trade, who oblige to make our crazy dreams a reality! We have been connected to unbelievable teams of tradesmen and women: with masons who ‘feel’ the stones to make sure they cut the perfect slabs. Our carpenters come from a bloodline rich of masters, who impart over 300 years of experience into every product and pride themselves on making something that will last that long; to create products that are passed down generation to generation, much like the trade that built it.

Popular Ranges

IDEALIST: What’s your most popular range?

Venoor: Marble Tops have been absolutely flying! Anything marble, the Polly Collection is our most recent one to come on the market and it has been great. All of our wood products are of course quite popular as well.

A Surprise Hit

IDEALIST: Is there anything you’ve designed/launched that surprised you?

Venoor: Though we love all of our Collections equally the Rossa continually surprises us. It is a series of just the most beautifully crafted wood delicately cut and connected so carefully with rich textures in a variety of different products from our dining, coffee, side tables, and bedside tables, console, chests of drawers, tallboys, and even a kitchen island (a personal favourite piece)! We’ve got a Rossa piece for every room!

The heroes are of course the craftsmen and women that put everything into making the product.

IDEALIST: Who are your design heroes?

Venoor: The heroes are of course the craftsmen and women that put everything into making the product. We have these ideas that we communicate to designers, they map out crude renderings, and we will pass it on to our team of master craftsmen, respective of their trade, who oblige to make our crazy dreams a reality! We have been connected unbelievable teams of tradesmen and women. With masons who ‘feel’ the stones to make sure they cut the perfect slabs. Our carpenters come from a bloodline rich of masters, who impart over 300 years of experience into every product and pride themselves on making something that will last that long; to create products that are passed down generation to generation, much like the trade that built it. They are the heroes in the design process.

Future Plans

IDEALIST: What are your plans for the next season?

Venoor: We are taking over every room! We are working on Lighting, Mattresses, Bedding, More accessories. Expanding our selection of products. As well we are introducing our own in-house styling consultancy, wherein we will have more intuitive collections, and hands-on expertise from leading industry experts.