In elementary agricultural science, I learnt that shelter is, one of the three main fundamental needs of man.
Getting to have a roof over one’s head, after a whole day job, brings a sense of satisfaction and eases the body of stress encountered, during the day.
To every society, however, comes a unique taste, of what would guarantee the final comfort, (chairs, table, etc), in the available shelter.
In Nigeria, statistics have shown that, over $60 million dollars, goes into the importation of furniture and while many still, cannot afford these imported materials, they opt for locally made ones.
A major reason for this is, the belief that the only way to get quality furniture is, to import.
Locally made furniture, may not just be good enough, as the average artisan, appears to be notorious, for compromising quality and on-time delivery.
Young people nowadays, with so much taste, for aesthetics, in their home designs and space, browse the internet for inspiration.
On most occasions, however, these do not meet their expectation, as they end up settling for, rather old fashioned showrooms that are quite expensive.
John is, for instance, set to furnish his apartment, but he has tons of questions, racing through his mind. Would it fit my space? What would it look like? What are my options?
To get around these and other similar questions, Taeillo is changing this narrative, by making it easy, for Africans, in the comfort of their homes, to shop well-crafted African-inspired furniture.
Taeillo is set to improve the local market and help empower new businesses, by using locally sourced materials, to create quality and beautiful products that, Africans can feel comfortable spending on, with extra benefits of after-sales cleaning and maintenance.
Being a lifestyle-based start-up, leveraging technology, Taeillo employs extended reality, to help its customers answer questions that they would, normally have, when shopping for furniture, just like John, in the illustration.
Using augmented reality, customers get to see the furniture products, where they can try visualising them, in the space, using the website mobile app, (coming soon).
Aside from visiting the physical space, the lifestyle start-up has a virtual showroom that uses VR, which enables the setup, for centres, customers would love to visit, for a Taeillo experience.
According to Taeillo, the lifestyle-based start-up target two virtual showrooms in Lagos, while Abuja, Accra and Nairobi will have one a centres each.
The start-up will, also, take some steps further, by solving shipping issues for furniture, as we deliver directly, to the customer’s home.
The Founder
Jumoke Dada is the founder of the lifestyle start-up and she is a Lagos-based designer, with top honours, in Architecture, from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
She has worked in top Architectural and interior design and furniture manufacturing companies in Nigeria.
In September 2015, She exhibited, as a finalist, at the innovation award. She has, also, attended a design workshop, organized by the African Contemporary Institute of Design.
The central theme of her idea is, based on culture, identity, morals in the society and issues relating to feminism. Society is a reflection of the home and how the home influences society.
On why technology is applied
Taeillo applies technology for 2 reasons:
To improve its customer’s experience and to reduce the cost of setting up showrooms for experiences.
Using Technology, Taeillo is able, to give customers full experience and more, in their comfort zones and this saves the start-up, lots of costs, while making it easy, for its customers to enjoy and get engaged.
The science behind the application
XR is an emerging umbrella term, for all the immersive technologies. The ones present today—augmented reality, (AR), virtual reality, (VR) and mixed reality, (MR).
All immersive technologies extend the reality experience, by either, blending the virtual and “real” worlds or, by creating a fully immersive experience.
In augmented reality, virtual information and objects, are overlaid, on the real world.
This experience, enhances the real world, with digital details, such as images, text and animation.
In contrast to augmented reality, however, a virtual reality experience, users are fully immersed, in a simulated digital environment.
Furniture business and its evolution in Nigeria
The furniture industry in Nigeria has not evolved for decades. It is still the same brick and mortar approach, with high overheads.
This is why a lot of furniture businesses have died and low-quality brands, begin to rise by the roadside, to meet the demand.
There is a need, for standardization, with an infusion of African elements, into furniture being made for Africans.
According to Taeillo, “Africa needs its own IKEA and the start-up has come to be. We have come to bridge that gap.”
Taeillo was among the 16 startups that participated at Innovation Showcase Week 2020 at Cchub.
Featured Image: The Taeillo team
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