Urbi Furniture Extension & AI Prototypes
Influencing Australian Architectural Spaces through a Relevant Brand, Bespoke Marble and AI Innovation
Lucas proposes a new model that prioritizes customization, efficiency, and direct engagement, leveraging their market expertise and AI. A modular design system is suggested to allow for extensive product customization and future expansion.
Key objective
The traditional market for high-quality, custom furniture and design elements was often inefficient and lacked accessible bespoke options. Customers did not appreciate the use of the material in contemporary build.
Challenge
Consumers and commercial specifiers faced lengthy, traditional agency processes, limited customization, slow delivery, and costly middlemen when seeking unique, premium stone and marble products . There was a clear opportunity for a brand to disrupt this space by offering custom, premium materials in a more efficient, accessible, and innovative way
Lucas suggested with a disruptive model centered on customization, efficiency, and direct engagement, leveraging Lucas's deep market experience and specialist AI capabilities.
Solution
Key suggestions: Modular
Modular Design System: Urbi employs a modular design system that enables extensive product customization and allows for future growth through new materials and categories, safeguarding the brand and its offerings with high-barrier-to-entry materials . This system is visually demonstrated through various configurations of stone and marble storage units
AI-Powered Visualization & Efficiency: Urbi utilizes AI for product visualization, empowering customers to design their perfect table online in minutes - and avoid holding stock
Key Suggestions: Empowering Customers
This technology also helps secure initial investment by showcasing full collections pre-manufacture . Lucas's proven capability in this area is highlighted by the Bremworth 'Crafted feels different' campaign, where all assets were AI-generated, marking a shift in creative workflows for major projects. This responsive approach helps reduce overall project costs and delivers creative solutions faster and cheaper than traditional agency models.
Premium Materials & Craftsmanship: Urbi transforms challenges associated custom stone and marble to it’s core strength .
Case Studies: High End Premium always has delays
Products are architect-designed and stonemason-crafted , utilizing premium material partners like the updated Caesarstone® .
The material options extend beyond marble and stone to include synthetic, composite/recycled materials, and various fabrics.
Lucas suggested approach transforms the selection process from a weakness to a strength and point of difference for Urbi.
Recommended Diverse Product Portfolio: Beginning with low-cost accessories for initial brand positioning, Urbi plans to expand into furniture and beyond . Its offerings span:
AfterModular Storage Systems].
Designer Comp Giveaways like the "Cuckoo Clock" (a pigeon sculpture with an LED digital display) focused on targeted awareness among commercial specifiers rather than high-volume sales].
Home Accessories including various stone/marble pieces, decorative objects, knobs, and diverse bowls and trays.
Acoustic Panels made from perforated marble and other materials, designed for aesthetic and functional purposes in spaces
Custom Furniture like tables (coffee, dining, slim, cube side), chairs, and bathtubs, available for custom measurements
Home Lighting products such as stone lamps
Back-lit LED Numbers
Global Reach & Transparent Customer Experience: Urbi leverages Lucas's international project experience across New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, North America, and South East Asia, with a unique understanding of regional manufacturing and export markets.
The "Black out rooms" concept further underscores Urbi's commitment to a constructive and open approach to the customer experience, contrasting with "black box" methodologies that hide process
Results & Impact: Urbi's model, backed by Lucas's innovative strategies, delivers superior creative work more quickly and cost-effectively than traditional agency structures
Customer testimonials consistently highlight the professionalism, promptness, and beautiful craftsmanship of Urbi's products. Products are described as "stunning showpieces" that are of "exceptional quality" and make buying furniture "so easy
Conclusion.
Urbi, powered by Lucas's innovative approach and AI capabilities, is redefining the custom stone and furniture market by offering a highly flexible, direct, and cost-effective solution for both residential and commercial clients. Its focus on bespoke design, premium materials, and efficient online processes positions it as a sector challenger brand.
Lucas recommends adopting the ‘maximalist’ design language illustrated in this presentation
Lucas's Role in Developing Urbi's Original Brand Strategy, Brand Name, and Design System
Lucas operates as a "Brand design Agency" that aims to "direct and deliver big, fresh ideas and high quality creative assets to ambitious export manufacturers & marketers" . Our approach is "proven," with "world-class" people and "exceptional" output, being "years ahead of the market in [their] approach & structure. This foundational capability directly contributed to Urbi's development.
Capabilities
Brand Strategy Development:
Lucas brings "deep market experience" and "25 years of international project experience" to the table, combined with specialist AI capabilities ]. This expertise allows them to understand the unique requirements to build "sector challenger brands".
Their direct way of working delivers "clear & confident creative solutions" and enables quick, confident movement with "fresh insights and bold executions" . This framework was instrumental in shaping Urbi's strategic direction.
For Urbi specifically, Lucas's strategic input aimed to transform "Custom stone and marble products... into a brand strength" We also intended to use "Data analytics" to guide in replicating industry leaders’ success - a data-driven approach to strategy.
Design System Development:
Lucas's role as a "Brand design Agency" that delivers "high quality creative assets" directly supports their development of Urbi's design system. They are stated to "craft with integrity" and "make the inspirational and new".
Urbi's future offering is built upon a "modular design system" that "will enable product customization and growth" and "scale by introducing new materials and categories". This systematic approach to product design is a hallmark of Lucas's strategic and creative input.
Lucas selectively works with "intelligent and ambitious global clients" who are "accessing new technology and creative supply chains, making brands better with smaller budgets" This aligns perfectly with Urbi's direct-to-consumer model.
Brand Name Development:
Lucas developed the brand and name "Urbi" /brand identity and strategy is critical to growth.
The extensive visual examples of the "Modular Storage System" in various materials and configurations within the "URBI ideas" documentdemonstrate the practical application of this design system developed by Lucas.
Lucas's use of AI for "product visualization" and the ability to showcase "full collections pre-manufacture" underscores their development of a sophisticated digital design system that supports Urbi's online-first model and efficiency goals.
Their staged approach is "structured to strategically grow brands, take advantage of new technology" , which perfectly describes the implementation of Urbi's scalable and adaptable design system.
Listen to pitch
Elevator pitch to investors
Urbi is poised to disrupt the multi-million dollar custom stone and furniture market, an industry currently plagued by inefficiency, lengthy processes, and limited bespoke options. Leveraging Lucas's world-class AI capabilities and proven brand-building expertise, Urbi offers a 100% online, asset-light model that empowers customers to design premium, architect-designed pieces like tables and bathtubs in minutes, with sales secured pre-manufacture through AI visualization. This unique modular design system allows for rapid expansion into diverse high-value categories like lighting and acoustic panels, transforming custom materials into a core strength. With projected hyper-growth from $1 million in Year 1 to $12 million by Year 4 [conversation history], Urbi is redefining bespoke design by delivering superior quality faster and more cost-effectively, positioning us as the clear sector challenger brand.
Urbi's projected revenuesuggests hyper-growth driven by a disruptive, technology-first approach.
Your projected revenue figures are:
Year 1: $1 million
Year 2: $3 million
Year 3: $6 million
Year 4: $12 million
While the exact revenue of Franchi Umberto Marmi Australia Pty Ltd is not provided in the sources, Urbi's ability to mirror or exceed the success of a established stone company like FUM, while adding furniture, is supported by several key differentiating factors inherent in Urbi's model:
Foundation in Premium Stone Materials: Urbi transforms custom stone and marble products into a core brand strength. Your partner's direct "access to $3 million of marble" (from conversation history) provides a significant material advantage, ensuring premium supply for products like "urbistone". This establishes a strong base in the high-value stone market, similar to a specialized company like FUM. Products are also "architect-designed and stonemason-crafted".
Strategic Expansion into Furniture: Unlike a traditional stone company, Urbi explicitly plans to "Start with low-cost accessories for initial brand positioning, then introduce furniture". Its product portfolio includes various "Custom Furniture like tables (coffee, dining, slim, cube side), chairs, and bathtubs", leveraging its modular design system. This expansion significantly broadens Urbi's addressable market beyond just raw stone materials or architectural applications, enabling greater revenue potential.
AI-Powered Visualization and Pre-Manufacture Sales: A crucial differentiator is Urbi's use of AI for product visualization, which empowers customers to "design their perfect table online in minutes". This technology also helps to "secure initial investment by showcasing full collections pre-manufacture". This approach means revenue can be generated without the typical upfront capital expenditure on extensive physical inventory or showrooms, significantly accelerating sales cycles and reducing costs compared to traditional models. Lucas's "specialist AI capabilities" and their proven success with AI-generated campaign assets, such as the Bremworth campaign that "sent shockwaves throughout the industry," underpin the credibility of this strategy.
Asset-Light and 100% Online Model: Urbi operates "100% online, with no costly middlemen". Furthermore, "most items will be custom-ordered, with minimal stock held". This asset-light inventory model minimizes capital tied up in physical goods, allowing for greater investment in scaling the platform, marketing, and technology, thereby directly supporting the rapid revenue growth projections. This contrasts sharply with traditional retail or trade models that often require significant physical infrastructure and inventory.
Scalable Modular Design System: Urbi employs a "modular design system" that "enables extensive product customization and allows for future growth through new materials and categories". This inherent flexibility and scalability in product development allows for efficient expansion into new product lines like "urbifabric", "urbioutdoor", "urbiweave", and "urbieco", which include materials such as wool, bamboo, and recycled PET. This system positions Urbi to continuously expand its offerings and market reach.
Strategic Go-to-Market Approach: Urbi aims for "targeted awareness among commercial specifiers rather than high-volume sales" through initiatives like "Designer Comp Giveaways". This indicates a focus on high-value, repeat commercial clients, which can underpin stable and growing revenue streams. Urbi also leverages existing "manufacturer networks to develop complementary products".
Lucas's Expertise as a "Sector Challenger Brand" Builder: Lucas, as the brand design agency, brings "deep market experience" and "specialist AI capabilities". Their "proven" model is "years ahead of the market" in approach and structure, specifically aimed at helping clients "build sector challenger brands". This expertise directly supports Urbi's ambitious goal of "redefining the custom stone and furniture market".
In essence, Urbi's model takes the premium material focus of a company like FUM and supercharges it with AI, modularity, and a direct-to-consumer online model, significantly expanding its product offering into furniture and allowing for accelerated revenue growth and market disruption.
To further substantiate these aggressive revenue targets and provide greater detail for senior leadership, the next step should be to model the expected customer acquisition channels and conversion funnels for both the stone-focused sales and the expanded furniture lines. This would include specific assumptions for digital marketing spend, lead generation, and average order values for different product categories, illustrating how the AI visualization and direct-to-consumer model will drive the projected sales volume.
Total Estimated Operational Costs for Year 1:
Combining these estimates, Urbi's total operational costs for the first year could range from approximately $1,400,000 to $1,520,000.
See here for details
Listen to financial interview abo0ut the offer
Executive Summary: Urbi - Disrupting Custom Design with AI and a Modular Approach
Urbi presents a compelling investment opportunity as a sector challenger brand poised to disrupt the multi-million dollar custom stone and furniture market [conversation history, 121]. This market has traditionally been characterized by inefficiency, lengthy processes, limited customization, and costly middlemen [conversation history, 114]. Urbi's model, developed in partnership with Lucas, a world-class brand design agency with specialist AI capabilities, offers a direct, efficient, and highly customizable solution [conversation history, 1, 2, 115].
Urbi's core differentiation lies in its 100% online, asset-light operating model, which eliminates costly middlemen and physical showrooms, reducing capital expenditure by holding minimal stock, with most items custom-ordered [conversation history, 108, 9]. A key enabler is cutting-edge AI for product visualization, empowering customers to design their perfect piece online in minutes and allowing Urbi to showcase full collections and secure initial investment pre-manufacture [conversation history, 9, 116]. This AI capability, proven by Lucas's work on campaigns like Bremworth's 'Crafted feels different' where all assets were AI-generated, significantly reduces overall project costs and delivers superior creative solutions faster and cheaper than traditional agency models [conversation history, 3, 7, 116, 120].
The brand is built on a scalable, modular design system that transforms custom stone and marble into a core brand strength, safeguarding its offerings with high-barrier-to-entry materials [conversation history, 8, 9, 115, 117]. This system allows for future expansion beyond initial low-cost accessories into custom furniture, lighting, acoustic panels, and more, significantly broadening its addressable market [conversation history, 9, 16, 118, 119]. Products are architect-designed and stonemason-crafted, ensuring premium quality and unique style, leveraging partnerships with material suppliers like Caesarstone® and Dulux [conversation history, 109, 110, 117].
Urbi's go-to-market strategy focuses on targeted awareness among high-value commercial specifiers for material sales, rather than broad, high-volume sales [conversation history, 118, 9]. The direct approach is supported by Lucas's deep market experience and 25 years of international project reach across Australia, New Zealand, North America, and Southeast Asia, offering unique understanding of regional manufacturing and export markets [conversation history, 2, 4, 5, 119]. Customer feedback consistently praises Urbi's "professionalism, promptness, and beautiful craftsmanship," describing products as "stunning showpieces" of "exceptional quality" that make buying furniture "so easy" [conversation history, 111, 112, 120].
Financially, Urbi projects $1 million in revenue in Year 1, growing to $3 million in Year 2, $6 million in Year 3, and $12 million by Year 4 [conversation history]. We seek capital to fund continued platform development, targeted digital marketing, and strategic expansion of product lines and supply chain networks [conversation history]. Urbi is positioned to redefine bespoke design globally by offering a highly flexible, direct, and cost-effective solution for both residential and commercial clients [conversation history, 121].
Next Step: To further strengthen the investment proposition and validate the ambitious growth projections for senior leadership, we should conduct a thorough market sizing analysis specific to the custom stone and premium furniture segments. This analysis will leverage industry reports and data analytics to provide concrete data on the total addressable market, substantiating Urbi's achievable market penetration and providing a robust framework for assessing future growth potential.
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