Us & Customs, revisiting traditions

At the heart of a home, there are certainly the people who live there, but there is also the furniture that dresses it up and makes the place you cherish much more functional and pleasant.

We can say that it is in this sense that Jean Darveau and Vincent Cloutier design and manufacture, in their workshop located on Masson in Montreal, Us & Coutumes furniture and accessories. The two entrepreneurs create everyday objects made for urban habitats that will meet the specific needs of their users.

The story

Founded in July 2013, the company Us & Coutumes is the result of long questions between Vincent and Jean to find out how they can push the creation of furniture and accessories for the home a little further, and this, by combining materials of quality, design, utility and price. Which is not always easy to achieve if we rely on the two men.

“We play ping-pong with our products. We come up with ideas to improve them, we do tests until we judge that they are ready to be sold,” says Vincent.

That's quite a challenge in a world where Ikea and other cheap furniture retailers are churning out a dizzying slew of low-cost (and low-quality, let's be honest) furniture.

The team on board

Vincent is the designer and communications manager. It is he who pushes the design to another level while Jean wears the hat of technical director (or "patenteux", as he says) by working the material.

Together, they simplify the construction of an object and develop sublime furniture and accessories with an urban look.

Us & Customs creations

Made of wood such as cherry, ash, walnut and cherry, the pieces signed Us & Coutumes are very functional and blend well with modern life and new technologies. One only has to think of the iPhon e amplifier or the electronic tablet stand, offered on their sales site and on the Signé Local marketplace .

The company also offers a great selection of products for the kitchen, from the cutting board to the hand of salt, not to mention this cute coffee serving tray.

And what about the entry bench? It will make you fall in love, that's for sure! And what's great is that it is available in several wood species, sizes and colors.

By creating the company, Jean and Vincent wanted to explore manufacturing techniques and revisit traditions, in order to update and optimize their use.

"When you think of Us & Customs , you think of 'traditions', and we thought we were going to go the other way around, doing things differently and facilitating practices," says Vincent.

It can be said without a shadow of a doubt that both men have vision.

Find out more about Us & Customs!

Reviewed by Eveline