California-based Woodsy Announces First Product And Pre-seed Round To Take On Fast Furniture
Woodsy, a Los Angeles, CA-based furniture startup, manufacturing affordable, solid wood furniture, announced its first product on Kickstarter recently, surpassing its funding goal in six hours. Woodsy also announced a pre-seed round led by angel investors.
Woodsy manufactures in the U.S., using Walnut, Maple and Cherry sourced from the U.S. Woodsy Desk is the first product from a brand poised to turn the fast furniture industry on its head, according to a company press release.
Woodsy Desk assembles in five minutes, transforms into any type of desk you want, and is made of 100 percent solid wood here in America, the press release stated.
Using a hybrid workforce (on-site and remote workers), Woodsy Desk can be manufactured in America in under an hour and reduces CO2 emissions by 80 percent.
The Woodsy team took years to prototype and validate the market for Woodsy Desk.
With Woodsy Desk released, Woodsy is looking towards the future. They plan a catalog of 64 pieces.
For more information, visit www.getwoodsy.com.
Biden-Harris Administration Invests Nearly $34 Million To Strengthen Wood Products Economy
As part of its goal of investing in rural America, the Biden-Harris Administration recently announced that $33.7 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will fund projects to strengthen the wood products economy and promote sustainable forest management. This investment supports a crucial link between resilient, healthy forests and strong rural economies and jobs in the forestry sector, especially in communities that depend on national forests and grasslands to grow and thrive, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture press release.
Forest restoration creates byproducts like small diameter timber and woody biomass, which has historically been of little market value. Thanks in part to USDA Forest Service investments in innovative wood products, this material which may have been discarded, can be made into many types of wood products.
This move provides $29 million to establish, reopen or improve businesses that purchase and process these byproducts from projects on federally managed lands or tribal lands at risk of wildfire, insects and disease. More than two thirds of the funded businesses will use byproducts from forest restoration and hazardous fuels reduction on landscapes identified in the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy.
To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
Remodeling Market Sentiment Edged Up In First Quarter Of 2023
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released its NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the first quarter of 2023, posting a reading of 70, edging up one point compared to the previous quarter.
The NAHB/Westlake Royal RMI survey asks remodelers to rate five components of the remodeling market as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” Each question is measured on a scale from 0 to 100, where an index number above 50 indicates that a higher share view conditions as good than poor.
The Current Conditions Index is an average of three components: the current market for large remodeling projects, moderately sized projects and small projects. The Future Indicators Index is an average of two components: the current rate at which leads and inquiries are coming in and the current backlog of remodeling projects. The overall RMI is calculated by averaging the Current Conditions Index and the Future Indicators Index. Any number over 50 indicates that more remodelers view remodeling market conditions as good than poor.
The Current Conditions Index averaged 75, dropping two points compared to the previous quarter. Two of the three components declined as well: the component measuring large remodeling projects ($50,000 or more) fell three points to 71 and the component measuring small remodeling projects (under $20,000) declined by two points to 77. Meanwhile, the component measuring moderately sized remodeling projects (at least $20,000 but less than $50,000) remained unchanged at 78.
The Future Indicators Index increased two points to 64 compared to the previous quarter. The component measuring the current rate at which leads and inquiries are coming in rose two points to 59 and the component measuring the backlog of remodeling jobs increased two points to 69.
“Remodelers are generally optimistic about the home improvement market, although some are noting negative effects of material shortages and higher interest rates,” said NAHB Remodelers Chair Alan Archuleta, a remodeler from Morristown, NJ. “Customers are still undertaking larger projects, but are mostly paying cash rather than financing them.”
“An overall RMI of 70 is consistent with NAHB’s projection that the remodeling market will grow in 2023, but at a slower pace than in 2022,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “One potential area of growth, given the aging U.S. population, is aging-in-place remodeling. In fact, 63 percent of remodelers reported in the first quarter doing aging-in-place work, with bathroom projects like grab bars and curb-less showers being particularly common.”
For the full RMI tables, please visit www.nahb.org/rmi.
