Custom furniture lead time: approx. 6 weeks. Need it sooner? Let us know.
About Innate
Made here, made to last.
Innate Furniture was founded in Ōtautahi in 2019 by Guido Loeffler and Nick Lee to offer New Zealanders a different approach to furniture: locally made, carefully specified, fairly priced for the level of craft, and built around the room it lives in.
We design and manufacture solid timber and steel furniture from our Christchurch workshop, using quality local materials from Aotearoa and making decisions with longevity, repairability and Te Ao Tūroa in mind.
Māori-ownedNgāi Tahu business
Christchurch workshopDesigned and made in Ōtautahi
Made to orderCustom dimensions and finishes
NationwideFurniture delivered across NZ
What we make
Furniture for homes, workplaces and hospitality spaces.
Some projects begin with a single dining table. Others start with a timber benchtop, outdoor table, desk, bench, shelving unit, boardroom table, or a fit-out piece for a busy commercial space.
Custom dining tablesSolid timber tables made around your room, family and finish preferences.View dining tablesBenchtops and timberNative timber benchtops, slabs and practical material advice.View benchtopsCommercial and boardroomTables, leaners, fit-out pieces and larger project work for real spaces.View commercial workOutdoor and one-off piecesOutdoor tables, desks, benches, shelving and custom pieces made around the brief.View outdoor furniture
Workshop capability
A practical custom workshop, not a catalogue.
The workshop is best known for dining tables, and also supplies hospitality, retail and corporate spaces throughout New Zealand.
Standard designs are useful starting points, but the work can be shaped around dimensions, materials, finish, quantities and site needs. The point is not to sell a fixed catalogue piece; it is to make furniture that suits the way the room will actually be used.
Custom sizingLength, width, height, shape, base style, finish, colour matching and extra-large pieces can be made around the space.
Local materialsNative timbers, New Zealand steel and commercial-grade natural oil finishes.
Design and CADIn-house design and CAD support helps turn rough ideas, designer collaborations and unusual requests into workable furniture.
Production capacityThe workshop produces over 500 items per year and has supplied homes, retailers and commercial spaces across New Zealand.
What guides the work
How we choose to build.
The workshop decisions are shaped by whakapapa, material choices, durability, waste, and the local people involved in the work. Looking after Te Ao Tūroa is part of how we choose materials, finishes and making methods.
IdentityMāori-owned
We are a Māori-owned and operated business that whakapapa to Ngāi Tahu.
We are proud of our indigenous heritage and the fact that we produce sustainable furniture from within our own takiwā.
Our purpose is driven by our fundamental belief that we do not just share a relationship with our environment, but that our identity, knowledge and world view is built on it.
Our role as kaitiaki (guardians) is to care for the mana, tapu and mauri of our environment so that it may be passed on to the next generation in good stead.
PurposeRegeneration
Regeneration is our purpose. Our brightest future necessitates going beyond sustainability and actively regenerating the natural world in order to thrive.
We live this by:
- utilising sustainably sourced native timbers (e.g. beech, totara, and rimu) that are managed to have a net positive outcome on the natural world
- utilising New Zealand steel that is produced by extracting iron from the sand before the sand is returned to the beach and contoured to its original state
- using coating systems made from natural oils and waxes made locally
- producing furniture that is durable and designed to be passed onto future generations
- planting a native tree locally for every item sold
- minimising waste at every step
MaterialsWhat we choose to use
We go beyond reasonable to support sustainable and local material suppliers, down to oils and fixings. Some examples include:
- West Coast Beech - sustainably harvested, managed by MPI
- Northland Totara - sustainably harvested, managed by MPI/SCION
- Recycled Rimu - Available from a range of large local demolition projects
- Natural Oil Finishes - commercial grade natural oil finish, available in a wide range of colours
- New Zealand Steel - sustainably extracted from iron sands near Glenbrook
CommunityLocal economy
We believe that our success cannot be achieved independently of the success of our local community and economy. We therefore aim to share our successes with our local community by:
- producing all of our furniture locally from our Ōtautahi workshop/showroom
- providing career opportunities for locals through training and employment
- offering staff flexibility and a living-wage
- partnering with local suppliers/manufacturers wherever possible to keep the New Zealand dollar in the New Zealand economy
People and workshop
The work starts with a conversation and ends in the workshop.
Most enquiries start with Guido, then move through design, quoting, material selection and workshop production with Nick, Dylan and the team.
The work follows a practical workshop process, so details like size, timber, finish, delivery and site use can be handled close to the people making the decisions. You are dealing with a furniture business that designs, makes and stands behind the work, not a distant catalogue.
Customer feedback
Made for real homes and working spaces.
Reviews are useful here because most Innate pieces are made before they can be touched or seen in person. They show how the process, communication and finished furniture hold up for real customers.
Next step
Start with the room, not a finished specification.
A rough size, a photo, a timber you like, or a deadline is enough to begin. We will help narrow the practical choices from there.