THUNDER BAY – A new company is hoping to make its mark on the furniture world with quality flat-pack pieces designed and made in Thunder Bay.
Tok Tok Home recently launched with an initial line of three items, but president Matej Rodela has his eyes on a national market, and beyond.
“It’s inspired by Scandinavian modern design, so it’s light, it’s aesthetically appealing, and very comfortable,” explained the Thunder Bay resident, who originally hails from Slovenia.
Rodela expects Millennials to be the primary market for the company’s products, which so far include a lounge chair, ottoman, and stool. Other products including tea tables and shelving units are in development.
With their minimalist design, portability, and balance of quality and affordability, he hopes Tok Tok’s designs will resonate with a highly mobile generation. Each pack comes with an Allan key, the only tool needed for assembly.
“Young people today, we have to move – we have to go to neighbourhoods where rents are more affordable, and we have to take our furniture with us,” he said. “When you buy something, you want to keep it – it’s not just disposable.”
Tok Tok’s online-only retail model helps trim overhead, Rodela said, reducing costs for customers.
Its Sibley lounge chair goes for $425, accompanying ottoman for $270 – affordable enough to appeal to younger buyers, he said, but providing high enough quality to last decades.
“We designed it in such a way the quality doesn’t deteriorate with time, you can assemble and disassemble it as many times as you want,” he said. “These pieces are designed to last for a generation.”
The wooden pieces are cut locally by Port Arthur Woodcraft, a small-scale production shop run by Cory Bagdon. His work impressed Rodela, who wants to keep as much of the Tok Tok operation as possible done locally.
“We see value in creating jobs, bringing activities like manufacturing locally,” he said. “Thunder Bay’s a beautiful place, but it’s mostly based on service and natural resources, while manufacturing has added value.”
Bagdon has operated his shop since 2014, and recently purchased a CNC machine allowing precision computer-guided milling to turn out larger volumes. He typically offers custom furniture and residential millwork, but has also worked on projects like flat-pack cabinets.
Getting orders from local businesses like Tok Tok supports his plans to expand to offer products of his own for the general consumer.
“It makes a big difference,” he said. “Taking on these other contracts is absolutely essential to make sure the shop keeps running. We have low overhead costs, but they’re still there.”
Bagdon was essential in honing product designs over a year and a half of development, as Rodela and Tok Tok’s head of design Martin Sosteric worked through numerous prototypes.
In Europe, the pair worked together on designs including a successful Kickstarter campaign for a wooden smartphone amplifier, for which they sold the rights to a Dutch company.
Rodela later spent time in Vancouver. By comparison, he says his new hometown offers a lot of advantages when it comes to launching a business.
“Thunder Bay has crazy low overhead compared to anywhere else in Canada,” he said. “Compared to Vancouver, an hour of CNC is so much more expensive, just because of rent and everything else.”
He also praised supports available to local entrepreneurs. Rodela worked closely with the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre and received a start-up grant of $5,000 from the Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC).
Early development was impacted by the arrival of COVID-19, when even common materials were in short supply.
“Just getting off the ground was affected because we weren’t able to get plywood in,” Rodela explained. “The supply chain was so disrupted that [even] something so commonplace as plywood, we had to wait months.”
Now, the company has launched online orders. While for now Rodela is doing much of the packaging and other work himself, he has a plan in place to scale up, and envisions expanding to hire others.
Note: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Port Arthur Woodcraft owner Cory Bagdon. Tbnewswatch apologizes for the error.
