VUILD Releases Beta Version of “EMARF,” an Autonomous, Decentralized Local Production Platform for On-Demand Custom Furniture

VUILD Inc. today released the beta version of “EMARF,” Japan’s first autonomous, decentralized local production platform that can output custom-made furniture on demand.

“EMARF” (URL: https://emarf.co/ ) is a design system developed in-house by VUILD. Through a web application, users can choose the region where the wood comes from and the design, and customize it to the size they need. Designers around the world can post design templates and earn income in a highly transparent way, while producers across Japan who own digital fabrication machines can instantly turn local timber into products and sell them directly to users worldwide. It is an innovative system that changes the conventions of existing industries and markets, as well as the relationships between makers, buyers and regions.

To date, VUILD has installed the digital woodworking machine ShopBot at 30 locations across Japan, including sawmills, lumber dealers and builders at the upstream end of the value chain. By linking the newly released “EMARF” with ShopBot, it becomes possible to use local materials to deliver original products to users over the shortest distance and in the shortest time.

The idea behind the name

EMARF is a coined word made by reading FRAME backwards. It expresses our intention to fundamentally rebuild the structure (frame) of making things, shifting from centralized mass production to decentralized, local, individual production.

Rebuilding the relationship with buyers

EMARF is Japan’s first service that lets buyers freely design furniture online and have it output on demand by ShopBots at workshops across Japan.
ShopBot is a digital fabrication machine that cuts wood exactly according to design data on a computer. Because the parts come out like a plastic model kit, buyers can do the final assembly and finishing themselves or leave it to the workshop. It transforms the relationship between furniture and buyers, from a life of simply choosing to a life of freely creating in real time.

Rebuilding the relationship with makers

Designers around the world can freely post furniture design templates to EMARF, and design fees are returned to them according to sales. For buyers, this widens the range of design choices. For designers, who until now were limited to two options, mass production by manufacturers or one-off production by craftspeople, it enables the small- and medium-lot production that fell between the two, serving as a source of new work opportunities and a place to spread their work.

Rebuilding the relationship with forests and regions
EMARF is committed to locally rooted making. Aiming to complete everything with minimal logistics, we are building a system in which all production processes, from felling, sawing and drying to cutting with ShopBot, are completed within a 10 km radius, contributing to the preservation of forest ecosystems and the revitalization of local industries.

Rebuilding the relationship with price

EMARF brings clarity to the opaque pricing structure of custom-made furniture. By becoming a digital platform, it eliminates intermediary margins, and by leaving the finishing to buyers, it offers furniture with carefully considered design and dimensions at a price close to the cost of the wood itself.

Next steps
Going forward, we are considering interfaces that can extend individual creativity, such as allowing users to turn sketches of what they imagine into data. We will also pursue global expansion, for example by linking with the 7,000 ShopBots already in use around the world so that the autonomous, decentralized local production platform can be used across national borders.

An event where you can experience EMARF firsthand will be held at VUILD’s workshop in Kawasaki from 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 13. At the event, participants will operate EMARF, cut wood with ShopBot, and assemble furniture on the spot.

[Event overview]
▪️Date and time: Thursday, December 13, 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

▪️Venue: VUILD workshop
▪️Address: unico 1F-A, 3-4 Nisshincho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa
▪️Program:
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.　Presentation + demo workshop*
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.　Networking reception
*Demo workshop:
Participants will operate the system on the web, adjust it to the size they want, and output the data with ShopBot, experiencing on-site fabrication (making things right on the spot). They will then split into teams to try sanding and assemble the furniture to completion.
▪️Intended for: sawmills, lumber dealers, builders, architects, designers and influencers
▪️Participation: By invitation only. Payment and delivery in this beta version are available only to a limited number of users. Based on feedback from a variety of perspectives, we will make improvements and adjustments ahead of the official launch in April. We will send a free invitation code to those who try the service at the event and give us their feedback directly. If you are interested, please apply using the form below. We will contact you after selection.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScT9eb1x6Uu5c_Z2amTWNm2CvHr9XzZfSwz0s1lflLZ0SHETw/viewform
▪️Inquiries: Email: info@vuild.co.jp

Service overview 　*Service details as of the beta release on November 29
▪️Service name: EMARF (URL: https://emarf.co/ )
▪️Service: Beta version of “EMARF,” an autonomous, decentralized local production platform that can output custom-made furniture on demand
▪️Launch: From Thursday, November 29, 2018
▪️Material processing regions: Three of the 30 locations across Japan where ShopBots have been installed through VUILD (Mitaki Space Factory in Toyokawa, Aichi; 小友木材店 in Hanamaki, Iwate; and Foreque in Minamioguni, Kumamoto)

▪️Wood species: Mainly softwoods such as Japanese cedar and cypress; depending on the region, hardwoods such as chestnut, walnut and cherry are also available
▪️Design templates: Starting with one design each for a desk, a shelf and a hut
▪️Price: Processing and shipping costs vary by ShopBot owner and region, design templates vary by designer, and prices also depend on the size requested by the user. Price details are displayed during the online ordering process.
▪️Management and operation: VUILD Inc.

About VUILD Inc.
▪️Company name: VUILD Inc.
▪️Representative: Koki Akiyoshi, CEO
▪️Founded: November 20, 2017
▪️Capital: 55 million yen
▪️Head office: unico 1F-A, 3-4 Nisshincho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa
▪️Main business:
VUILD is a company of architectural creators that aims to create the “soil” for lively living environments by removing the “limits on creativity and the ability to realize ideas” of individuals through (1) information technology and (2) digital fabrication technology.
By using ShopBot, we aim to build a sustainable society through local production for local consumption, in which local timber is used, made by residents with their own hands, and used in the region.
We have also been developing designs through participatory workshops with citizens in many regions.
Going forward, we will continue to distribute digital architecture technology to regions so that anyone can “quickly make the furniture and buildings they need for daily life, by themselves, whenever and wherever they like, using the materials at hand.”
That is the “lively way of living” we will bring to life.