Can you fit a Room in a Box?

The idea

The vision of Room in a Box is to design ultramobile, sustainable and affordable furniture for young people. The founders have discovered their perfect material in corrugated cardboard – 85% of which is recycled paper and 100% of which can be re-recycled. So far they have designed tables, chairs, a bed and several custom-made products like white boards and stalls for trade fairs.

The entrepreneurs

Lionel and Gerald developed the idea of Room in a Box in 2012 after Gerald had a revelation when sitting on a cardboard chair. Gerald used to work in start-up counseling and both have had close contact with entrepreneurs in their academic and professional career which is why they are not suffering from the typical “German fear of failure”.

Financing, Counseling & Support

Room in a Box received a start-up scholarship from the Beuth University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. The team is now working within the university’s accelerator/incubator programme where they are given affordable office and workshop space. They have tried consulting for young start-ups but prefer receiving concrete support from lawyers/notaries or subsidies for the acquisition of machinery which is provided by the state of Berlin. According to Rafael, the numerous incubator programmes, scholarships and the extended network make Berlin a perfect spot for young eco-startups.

The challenges

Working with a relatively unexplored material like corrugated cardboard puts the team before the task to continuously adapt and improve the design of their products. The first taxation after 2 years is coming up soon for Room in a Box.  This is an institutional barrier many young businesses struggle with as the tax amounts can turn out rather harsh.

The potential

The tables, chairs, beds and shelves of Room in a Box fit into a niche of eco-products with a growing demand in Germany. The furniture is entirely produced in Germany and exhausts 75% less CO₂ than conventional furniture. However, the self-proclaimed potential of Room in a Box lies in the fact that they are right in the sweet spot of this diagram: