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Inspiration Behind The Brand: Pepper Sq

Inspiration Behind The Brand: Pepper Sq

We’ve just launched our partnership with Pepper Sq and we’re already loving the brand. To learn more about our new partners our Co-Founder and CEO, Deirdre, invited Oxana, co-founder of Pepper Sq in for an interview. Get comfortable and enjoy finding out about the exciting Pepper Sq, and the inspiration behind the business. Oxana also shares her top tips for home interior design and the current trends on the market.

Q1. You’ve developed a fantastic business with Pepper Sq. Can you provide us with an overview?

Pepper Sq is a smart furniture shopping and interior design online platform, empowering customers creating interiors that ‘just feel right in a click’. We aim to revolutionise online spacemaking and furniture retail, by creating unique customer experiences and simplifying the purchase decision-making process. We offer an end-to-end solution that helps to discover the best furniture for your space, estimate the room makeover budget, assess dimensions and visualise your room design helping you to make purchase decisions.

Q2. Can you share the inspiration for the business and how you’ve built it to be what it is today?

Pepper Sq was launched in autumn 2018 with a mission to make ‘spacemaking’ simple and efficient. Following from our own experiences of online furniture shopping, we noticed a gap in the market for a new entrant – one which provides vast yet considered furniture selection, digital ‘interior design’ tools and smart curation to foster better customer experiences. While a lot of people want to design their perfect homes, they find it extremely time-consuming to shop in-store or search through thousands of portals on the internet. Needless to say, many people don’t feel overly confident choosing furniture, as it involves dealing with sizing, colour and style matching issues and thus, money and time are wasted on sorting returns.

Invest in the furniture pieces you’ve dreamt about, turn it into your inspiration and use it to form the final design for your space

This is where Pepper Sq changes everything, reducing the noise that’s out there and letting customers hone in on precisely what they are after. The platform’s launch featured a new concept of complete room designs, which can be tailored by customers to suit their spaces and budget. The ‘room’ space making function offer also comes with price reductions, as compared to buying individual items. All of the items featured within the room designs are also available separately.

Q3. Could you share with people what are the main points to consider when purchasing home furniture and furnishings?

We all have in mind pieces of furniture we dream about owning, but sometimes we have to compromise. Especially when we have limited space. Always prioritise choosing furniture which will fit comfortably in your interiors, giving you plenty of room to enjoy it.
There are three areas that give an emotional ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the house. In my experience, this is often the dining area, living space and master bedroom. These are the heart of the home and really inform the rest of the interiors, so it should capture your lifestyle, taste and vision. Invest in two or three foundation items, the furniture pieces you’ve dreamt about. Turn it into your inspiration and use it to form the final design for your space.

Function comes first. It’s a common mistake to create interiors which look stunning but can’t quite be used to their potential. Think about how you will use your home and all of its spaces. If you have a family, think about all of the family members and what are the essential functions of your dining room and the living room, which areas you need to access with ease and how much room you need to use the spaces comfortably.
Dimensions are the key! Be sure that you thoroughly check dimensions before you go ahead with your purchase. If you are not sure – seek expert advice about what is the minimum space required around a piece of furniture or any other parameter to be taken into consideration e.g. ensure all door apertures are sufficient to allow placement. Coming up with a completely new colour system for your home can be, to say the least, stressful, especially when going for bolder colour choices (eeek!). Getting a colour wheel could be a game-changer when it comes to finding the complementary colours that go together. Narrow down your colour palette to three colours. There is the main hue for the majority of the room, then the complimentary highlight colour, and contrast that could be used in the accessories and décor objects.

Q4. Can you share your views on current trends in the home furniture and furnishings space?

There’s a big movement towards colour, texture and layering. You can achieve amazing results by experimenting and finding a balanced ‘mix’ – such as abstract black and white photos in combo with oil paintings, modern furniture with a few antique pieces, or colourful glass objects against concrete walls.
Colours and patterns definitely get back on the stage. This joyful and fresh trend is mainly inspired by the artworks of abstract expressionists with bold geometries, blocks of colour and sketchy lines. This style is a great way to add some personality and ambience to any room without being too distracting.

With the topic of sustainability and the environment high on the agenda, many of us are looking inwards and homewards for comfort as an antidote to all the uncertainty. Inspired by Nordic interior styles that became so popular in the last few years, structured simplicity is a style that is aiming at creating a space to relax, with a warmer grey colour palette.
This trend demands some texture in textiles and finishes and a touch of raw materials for the additional cosiness and Nordic sustainable feel.
Multifunctional transforming (and smart) furniture is becoming a big hit, especially handy in limited space. We recently introduced a great range of ‘transformers’ at the site, including coffee tables transforming into dining tables, console – dining tables and compact sofa-beds.

Q5. I’m interested to know what your favourite product is being sold by Pepper Sq and why?

The cane bentwood combo takes our heart this season. Rounded shapes and sinuous lines are known for giving a softer and more welcoming feel. We have a vast collection of bentwood and cane furniture that’s extremely popular among our customers.
Our Arc side tables in beautiful light wood combine hidden storage space and remarkable design, alongside with Ozzy and Moli collections that are perfect for someone who likes clean lines. Hugo Compact Sofa-Beds is a statement sofa and are utterly elegant, with no hint that it does, in fact, transform into an occasional bed in one swift movement. Available in many vibrant colours.
Our transforming multipurpose furniture collection, which is perfect for a smaller space, includes Barbican and Levante Coffee Dining tables, Origami Folding Table and Flap Console-Dining Table.

Q6. What are your future aspirations for the business? Where would you like to take it to?

2019 has been an extremely busy yet successful year for Pepper Sq. And we are well-prepared to surprise our customers in a big way this 2020. A new ‘interior design’ functionality is to be launched at the site very soon, that makes the process of creating your perfect space simple as never before.
We truly believe that online furniture shopping should be effortless, quick and accessible for all. Simplicity is the key – from the intuitive technology which powers our online platform, to the thoughtfully curated interiors concepts. We would love to become a platform that is considered a ‘joy to use’, and empowering customers across continents to create beautiful homes ‘just in two clicks’.

Pepper Sq products can be discovered right across ufurnish.com. Be sure to extensively review their inspired range of furniture and furnishings to create your perfect home today.

Deirdre Mc Gettrick

Created By

Deirdre Mc Gettrick

Deirdre Mc Gettrick is the co-founder and CEO of ufurnish.com. Deirdre created the business after struggling to furnish her own home. She brings insight and inspiration to every home furnishing opportunity.

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