Our Company
Memo is a design company serving the contract furniture market. We work with accomplished designers around the world to create furniture for personal and shared interior spaces that exist across work and life. We design, manufacture, and sell, a portfolio of lounge seating, tables, and casework with modest custom options. Memo is based in Seattle, Washington and is represented across North America by Independent Sales Representatives.
Our headquarters and studio are located in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood; known for its historic role as the home of Boeing Field and the center of Seattle’s beer and coffee brewing industries. Today Georgetown is a dynamic intersection of artist studios, light industry, design showrooms, and restaurants, and its pioneering spirit is infused in Memo’s brand.
Not too far afield from Memo’s headquarters are our manufacturing partners. Along with the production of Memo products, these facilities service the high-end retail and aerospace industries, offering exceptional craftsmanship and access to elite quality systems. Their expertise marries well with our focus on materials and craft, and their proximity allows for powerful efficiencies in service, lead-times, and customization.
Our Philosophy
Motivated by design’s ability to positively affect the human condition, we create products that honor the essential. We believe that design engages best when it gets out of the way. At its most elemental, design compels us to nurture a deeper connection to an object’s fundamental qualities, giving voice to the materials from which it was made, the techniques by which it was crafted, and the designer by whom it was imagined. Through this process of distillation, we aim to create a world free of excess and the unnecessary, bringing us closer to the things that provide meaning and fulfillment. It’s when design honors the essential that we, in turn, honor the most essential of all: the human experience.
Our Designers
Memo’s approach to design is rooted in a driving belief that the essence of a design must be narrative-driven, distilled, and vigorously preserved throughout the entire product development and commercialization process. We maintain a development team comprised of industrial designers with deep expertise in the furniture realm, and pair them with world-class designers who align well with our scale and desire to cultivate innovative work. The unique cultural perspectives of our design partners must also lend a fresh and diverse voice to our efforts. Each partner is treated as a member of our company, whose ideas and proposals are subject to equal parts critical review and unrelenting energy, such that their ideas can be brought to bear as successful design and commercial endeavors.
Our Founders Story
Memo is a new company, but its founders – Lee Falck, Bobby Holt, Gary Cruce, and Dave Simon - are a group of long-time industry leaders, designers, and entrepreneurs. Our relationships began in 2002 at Seattle-based Brandrud Furniture, where we partnered to transform a small regional furniture company into a highly successful brand and operation known for its focus on design and innovation. In 2008, Brandrud was acquired by Herman Miller and relocated to the Midwest.
Following the acquisition, separate paths ensued, but the time together at Brandrud inspired the idea of working together in the future. After ten years of respective individual ventures, this idea gained momentum and in 2018 culminated into the creation of Memo. Our vision was to harness our chemistry, experience in furniture, and passion for design, to do something memorable that could enrich peoples’ lives. The name Memo, in fact, is shorthand for the word memorable; always reminding us of our vision and inspiring us to remain true to our purpose.
