Known for their mechanical resilience, ribbed steel rods or rebars are commonly used for reinforcing concrete. Embedded deep within concrete foundations, slabs, walls and rooftops, they’re not something we usually see or celebrate as a design feature.
But one furniture startup in Italy is on a mission to bring steel rods into the limelight. KINDOF has made the conscious decision to use recycled steel rods to create a range of chairs, tables, bookcases and accessories that embrace the material’s raw, industrial appeal, and it’s taking advantage of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on cloud to showcase its innovative products and develop an effective and efficient go-to-market strategy.
KINDOF designs and manufactures high-quality and sustainable indoor and outdoor furniture using recycled steel rods, The company uses the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on cloud and its web apps to create 3D models and photo-realistic renderings of its extensive product portfolio.
It was at a design technology trade expo in Milan that Mazzola and the KINDOF team discovered the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
“We met with Dassault Systèmes, explained our challenge and they said they could help with their design and render tools,” said Camilla Mazzola, brand and marketing manager at KINDOF. “We needed specific functionality, such as the ability to use the software on the go. As a startup, we also didn’t want to invest in additional servers and hardware, so it was important to be able to have a cloud-based access. But critically, they showed us that the design software could produce perfect, photo-realistic representations of our products.”
“It has been so useful being able to take advantage of these apps in the cloud,” Mazzola said. “We pay for what we use and have the flexibility to scale up and down according to our needs, which helps us to keep costs down. I’m seeing really good results. The apps are really user friendly and quick to load and respond. I can customize the dashboard to suit my needs and easily switch between the different roles and apps. And it can all be accessed on my laptop.”
KINDOF’s customers can choose from a wide range of colors and finishes – 24 in total – to personalize their furniture. But with this choice came a challenge. KINDOF wanted to be able to show how all its furniture items would look in each different configuration, but making and photographing every individual product would have been both time intensive and costly.
“The finishes are a very important component in our offering,” Mazzola explained. “All of them are powders, so are suitable for interior and exterior use, and they allow our customers to choose something that suits their specific tastes. It was key for us to be able to show this on our e-commerce website and in our product brochure, but we knew it wouldn’t be feasible to make each piece of furniture in every different color and finish combination.”
Using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform web apps xDesign and xStudio, KINDOF succeeded in creating 2,000 product renders within one month!
Students Note: xStudio is unavailable for Student/Academic use as of today. Do you wish to see it available in the future releases? Tell us in the Comments!
KINDOF also uses the project management capabilities in ENOVIA on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to keep marketing activities on track.
“I use it for organizing projects and dividing up tasks,” Mazzola said. “Project Planner helps me to manage workflows, approvals and project timelines and is an effective way of checking progress and optimizing my time. The data management is invaluable. I can save renderings with tags and categories, and it allows me to create a library and find specific products easily. We already have 69 products with 24 finishes and the platform will support us as we grow.”
KINDOF has seen great results with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. “I would absolutely recommend these design tools for a startup like us,” Mazzola said. “They have saved us several months of additional work, not to mention the costs of making each piece of furniture and photographing it. It would have been impossible.”
https://www.3ds.com/insights/customer-stories/kindof-sustainable-furniture
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