Facebook’s Favorite 6-In-1 Table Brand Now Has A Transformer Couch

The Transformer Couch can be endlessly reconfigured straight out of the box Transformer Home

Those enterprising Transformer Table people have something new they want their Facebook and Kickstarter followers to expand upon. After four successful Kickstarter campaigns, including the most funded in Canadian Kickstarter history, the Montreal-based entrepreneurs are launching a new multi-function furniture concept that can be an accent chair, a sofa, a sectional, a bed, a lounger or a full-on bouncy pad for the kids.

Like the solid wood 6-in-1 Transformer dining table that telescopes from 18 inches to 10 feet and has sold more than 20,000 units almost solely via Facebook ads, the Transformer Couch adapts to whatever space you have. The modular seating solution ships section-by-section, vacuum-sealed inside boxes that are 10 inches tall and 32 x 32 inches wide. Buy two, four, six, or maybe a dozen depending on how big you want your configuration to be and how many layouts you have in mind (L-shaped, U-shaped, T-shaped, Q-shaped...). Sections are between $500 and $600 each, take about ten minutes per module to assemble, and come in ten color options.

Seeing the concept makes it easier to understand.

I love the Transformer brand story. Five years ago, six friends from Canada and Eastern Europe started the company with almost no background in business, manufacturing, furniture, e-commerce or marketing. Yet the T-team turned a “what if?” furniture pipe dream into a company that says it’s on track to $100 million revenues this year.

As attention shifts to the Transformer Couch Kickstarter launch (funding continues through June 16, 2021, and has already surpassed its modest $35,000 goal by nearly a million dollars) I called Artem Kuzmichev, the brand’s CTO and Director of Marketing and Media, to learn more about a company with seemingly plans.

The couch comes in ten colors and as many configurations as you can imagine (and afford) Transformer Home

Your product line keeps, ahem, growing. What’s going on?

Artem Kuzmichev: Ha. We’re transitioning to be a bigger brand. Next month, we’ll officially become Transformer Home. As a brand, we’re no longer just tables, we’re not just couches. We are the transformable furniture brand.

Why a transformable couch?

Artem Kuzmichev: Almost everyone hates their couch. If you have a sectional, the sections slide apart. On most couches, when you lay down, your arm falls off the side. If you get it dirty, you can’t clean it. You can’t change the fabric because it’s stitched on. Most couches are too heavy to move. They’re too big to configure easily. We wanted to change that. We started with a couch that fits piece by piece in a box that’s small enough to go into a Honda Civic.

What were the must-have design elements?

Artem Kuzmichev: We said, let’s make it as simple as possible but full of features and things you can adjust. Every piece is a square and comes comes with legs, armrest, backrest, throw pillow, back pillow, and seating cushion. You can separate them. You can order six and have six separate seats. Or put three pieces upstairs as a sofa and three downstairs as a loveseat and a comfortable chair. You can change the covers and wash them when they get dirty. You can order new colors and change colors every year if you want. The idea was to make a couch as versatile as possible that you can keep forever and that never goes out of style.

Mesmerizing visuals helped Transformer Table become Kickstarter's most-funded furniture campaign Transformer Home

What did you learn from the viral success of Transformer Table?

Artem Kuzmichev: The community is everything. Facebook, Kickstarter—those platforms helped us get the word out without traditional advertising. So, we have the attention. But we did need to make some changes this time. One big lesson was to be better prepared. We were overwhelmed by orders and were slower on delivery than we anticipated. People’s patience can run out. But we just kept pushing and we eventually caught up. This time, we’re getting out there earlier. We invested our own money in production and we’re producing the couches already. We’re not waiting for the campaign to end before we start making products. The products are already being manufactured, so we know we’ll be ready when we hit the shipping date in November.

These must be easier to ship than those bulky tables, right?

Artem Kuzmichev: Absolutely. When you build heavy wood products, it is a different game. We can pop these out much faster. We learned to be fair in estimating what we can do, but you still have to roll with the changes. We were producing the couches in Vietnam but the Canadian government recently issued new tariffs with 300 percent tax on products coming from Vietnam and China. So, we’re now starting production here in Canada. You learn as you go but you never stop.

How many sections do you need to make it feel couch-y?

Artem Kuzmichev: The four- and six-unit configurations are the most popular. The four-section module on Kickstarter is $1,780, and the six is $3,200. But even two can feel couch-like. We’ve had hundreds of testers and people say over and over again that they’re incredibly durable and comfortable whether you’re sitting on one seat or stretching out on eight.

What are your plans for future expansion?

Artem Kuzmichev: We have two products coming later this year. A transformable patio set for our outdoor couch, and an outside table and bench that is 100 percent weatherproof. And there are more. We’re always thinking. We’re always coming up with ideas. We’re always transforming.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.