Company Profile: Framery Blocks Noise from Your Office
Framery is a startup from Tampere, Finland, designing and manufacturing soundproof phone booths for open-plan offices. This one-of-a-kind business is growing rapidly, serving huge technology companies on both sides of the Atlantic.
Do you find it hard to focus in an open-plan office? So did the founders of Framery. In their previous job, they were constantly distracted by their boss talking loudly on his cell phone. When they complained about the noise and told their boss they weren't able to concentrate, his response was straightforward: "Well, get me a phone booth."
This is how Framery got started. The two young men, Samu Hällfors and Vesa-Matti Marjamäki, decided to start out as entrepreneurs in order to develop a soundproof phone booth that would block any outside noise. Since 2010, the company has designed and manufactured phone booths and meeting pods for open offices. The main goal is to eliminate noise and thus help people concentrate on their work.
According to a recent study by Oxford Economics, more than half of office employees say ambient noise reduces their productivity. However, only 18 percent of them say their management has taken steps to solve the noise issues. Another research from University of Sydney shows that about 50 percent of employees in open-plan offices cite the lack of privacy as the most frustrating aspect of their work environment. This is why Framery is needed – it is the only company in the market focusing solely on manufacturing and developing soundproof private spaces.
The company is growing rapidly. It currently has some 70 employees, and roughly 100 more are planned to be hired in 2017. Regardless of the success, all of the products are still manufactured locally in Tampere, Finland. Each booth comes with good air ventilation and excellent interior acoustics. The company only uses first-grade materials, and all products are professionally assembled by hand. Before leaving the factory, they go through strict quality control and thorough testing.
As the awareness of noise problems has spread, global demand for this kind of product has increased. Nowadays, Framery products can be bought anywhere in the world via a vast retailer network. The customers include some of the world's biggest enterprises, such as Deloitte, SAP and Procter & Gamble.
At the Microsoft headquarter campus in Seattle, the feedback from users has been so positive that the technology giant is planning to replace one-third of their traditional telephone rooms with Framery booths. Another breakthrough has been made in Silicon Valley; the potential of noise-free office spaces has been recognized at several rising technology companies, such as Uber, Cloudera, Yelp and Atlassian – just to name a few.
More information: www.frameryacoustics.com/en