Furniture Startup Formr Creates Functional Pieces From Salvaged Waste

Construction sites across the U.S. generate a huge volume of debris each year. And, while a large percentage of the waste gets recycled, 145 million tons of it ends up in landfills.

Seeing opportunity in these “precious materials that can be reincarnated as beautiful new objects,” industrial designer Sasha Plotitsa launched Formr, a San Francisco-based startup that creates colorful, functional furniture and employees formerly incarcerated persons to do so. The company was specifically designed to address two of the issues the founder cares about most: waste and recidivism.

“When someone comes out of prison, they have to check the box on a job application that says they have a record. That makes it very hard for them to get their life back on track,” observes Plotitsa. So, he trains employees to “clean the salvaged materials and transform them into new things.”

But, accessing the construction debris that provides the raw materials for Formr’s products is not easy. “To this day, Plotitsa finds himself calling contractors one by one to see if they will let him come take a look at their trash…” Many contractors are “set in their own ways and don’t want someone messing with their system,” he notes. Several contractors, however, “understand his mission” and let Plotitsa scour their debris.

Formr has been in business for nine months now, and Plotitsa is encouraged by customer response. “I think people are looking for meaning in their life. This applies to their furniture as much as it does to their careers,” he says.

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