Dimensions Furniture, Inc. is a furniture designer and manufacturer that produces furniture for internet and catalog based retailers. These retailers tend to request a large number of models, with low volumes. This type of distribution is quite different from big-box retailers who request a much smaller number of models, but at higher volumes.

Prior to using Evolve, Dimensions primarily worked in a 2D environment using tools like Adobe Illustrator to create initial designs and Adobe Photoshop to apply materials.

Five years ago, Dimensions determined that in order to churn out enough designs to create the volume of models required, it would need to incorporate a better design tool into its process.

When initially evaluating 3D design tools, Dimensions Furniture found many tools to be “a little too rigid and mechanical” noted Dimensions Furniture Production Design Manager, Jared Boyd. “We wanted something that was more focused on industrial design that allowed more free-flowing creativity in the process.” Dimensions Furniture Designer, Ryan McNew noted, “The built in rendering capabilities were extremely attractive to us. Evolve had a much more organic feel to it which really helped relate to our artistic background.”

Evolve in the Design Process

When working on an initial design, customers of Dimensions Furniture typically provide Dimensions’ designers with a set of “inspiration images”. These images serve as a starting point for the design of a particular product. “Evolve has allowed us to grow as a company in terms of providing our customers what they want within a very short timeline in comparison to our competition,” notes Ryan.

“With Evolve, we are able to produce rendered samples in just a few days which is a timeframe that none of our competition can even come close to.” Dimensions noted that every model it produces or provides pricing on always starts in Evolve, “It is just so efficient for us,” noted Ryan.

Jared noted, “The ability in Evolve to render a design on the fly with built in dimensions has been key for us, not only does it allow us to show our buyers what the final product will look like, but also allows us to pass these files directly to our manufacturing teams for conversion into CAD files and ultimately production.” The sample creation process is extremely expensive and time intensive so having buyers sign off on a photorealistic rendering helps to greatly expedite the process.

After first seeing initial design concepts, buyers often want to have their own thumbprint on the final outcome and suggest changes.