What Happens When Product Designers Think Like Farmers? with Fernando Ramirez & Justin Beitzel
The workplace is changing faster than the conversations guiding it. We’re stepping up with a sharper plan for Season Seven: weekly episodes designed to spark action, challenge assumptions, and give you practical tools to build spaces and businesses that actually work.
You can touch a chair every day and never know who grew the materials inside it, who processed those materials, or where it ends up when it is no longer useful. Sid took a moment to chat with Justin Beitzel and Fernando Ramirez, co-founders of Common Object Studios and the creators of OkaTerra, about the work they’re doing to redesign furniture from the source instead of from the spec.
Their “farm to furniture” model starts with regenerative agriculture and real partnerships: working directly with farmers, building a material palette from what regions can produce responsibly, and turning undervalued inputs like waste wool into high-performing surfaces.
Along the way, they talk about why supply chain transparency should be part of product design, how localized manufacturing can scale when you build the right framework, and why circularity and design for disassembly only work if products are still environmentally safe at the end of life..
They also get practical about storytelling in the contract interiors world: what customers remember, how provenance builds loyalty, and why sustainability doesn’t have to mean less.
If you care about sustainable furniture, workplace design, or better materials with receipts, this one will change how you look at everyday objects. What’s one product you wish came with a full origin story?
In this episode:
[00:00] The Hidden Story Inside Products
[02:10] Two Founders One Design Philosophy
[12:05] OkaTerra And The Farm To Furniture Model
[22:00] Building A Material Palette From Waste
[31:05] Why Origin Stories Change What We Buy
[38:25] Scaling Local Making And Better Systems
[50:05] OkaTerra Means Okay Earth
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What does "farm to furniture" mean in furniture design?
Farm to furniture means designing a product by starting with the raw material source rather than the finished object. It involves working directly with farmers and material producers first, building a palette of available, responsibly grown materials, and only then designing what those materials can become. The approach treats supply chain sourcing as a core part of product design, not a step that happens after a product is already conceived.
Q: How can furniture brands build a more sustainable supply chain?
Real supply chain sustainability starts with direct relationships with the people who produce raw materials, not just with certifications applied after the fact. Regional or localized sourcing shortens the chain and makes transparency easier to maintain and communicate honestly. Byproducts and waste streams that other buyers reject are often an overlooked source of both environmental and economic value, and paying a premium for them can generate meaningful income for small producers while securing access to unique materials.
Q: What should a dealer principal or A&D professional know about material origin stories?
A traceable origin story creates a different kind of customer loyalty than a sustainability certification alone. Buyers and specifiers who understand where a material came from, and who was involved in producing it, connect with that product differently than one described only by its spec sheet. As sustainability requirements become standard across the industry, the ability to tell a specific, verifiable origin story is becoming a real point of differentiation rather than a nice-to-have.
Q: Why would a sheep farmer's waste wool matter to a furniture company?
Short-fiber wool that doesn't meet the quality bar for clothing is typically treated as a low-value byproduct with limited market demand. Processing that material into a usable furniture textile creates a new revenue stream for the farmer and incentivizes farming practices that improve animal health and land quality. It also demonstrates a broader principle: waste streams that other industries have already solved for often represent untapped opportunities once someone builds the processing capacity and demand to use them.
Resources:
Connect with Justin and Fernando:
Common Object Studio
OKATERRA
Justin’s LinkedIn
Fernando’s LinkedIn
Instagram
Connect with Sid:
www.sidmeadows.com
Sid on LinkedIn
Sid on Instagram
Sid on YouTube
The Trend Report introduction music is provided by Werq by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4616-werq License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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