FOUNDER STORY

What started as a university project went on to win multiple awards in the Design Transforms Exhibition for London Design Festival and led to the beginnings of JOSI. Here’s a look into the journey behind it all.

During her studies in Product and Industrial Design at Central Saint Martins, founder Georgia Gibbs became increasingly interested in sustainability and the lack of in the industry. More specifically she began to look closer at the way we design, make, and use our products. With the problem always leading back to overconsumption, her final year project presented the opportunity to explore the topic on a deeper level.

How can we as designers change the way we consume resources throughout the supply chain for the better? The answer was simple, minimise resources and maximise efficiency. And with this project brief, Georgia began to draw inspiration from minimalism, flat pack furniture to dieter rams and his ten principles for good design. Naturally the design direction leading Georgia to combine her two passions, sustainable and furniture design.

Ideas began to take shape, quite literally with just cardboard, scissors, a pencil and ruler, the idea for INIM came so easily into fruition. Cutting out simple shapes and slotting them together, trying to be the most efficient with the least amount of material. As the design formed, each stage of the supply chain followed, mapped out to ensure consistent sustainable and efficient practices throughout. And with this established from the get go, the rest of the project came together with ease.

Presenting the final project to a panel, INIM was shortlisted for the Design Transforms Exhibition in collaboration with the London Design Festival in 2023. The event was empowering and a unique opportunity for Georgia to showcase the design and express the idea behind it to creatives and professionals, going on to be awarded the design and sustainability reward. More on the event was covered by Dezeen, read here. Recognising the success of the project and an industry in need of sustainable change, Georgia founded JOSI.

With the core mission, vision and values developed during the project and then finalised in the making of JOSI, the idea behind our brand was solidified. Aligning these values and working closely with our supply chain, we were able to ensure a high quality outcome that enabled us to take a one off university project to a batch scale. Thus creating a new and improved version of INIM ready to be launched.

Here now at present day in 2025 with the upcoming release of INIM, the journey has just begun for JOSI. Looking to the future, we aim to add to our collection of furniture with more curated and signature designs. So keep an eye out and stay up to date on what’s to come.