PolyVision, a Steelcase division, makes a white board using porcelain enameled steel. Since American manufacturers don’t make this metal at a level that passes quality control standards, the company has to import it from Japan. Steelcase
For the past eight years, San Francisco-based furniture designer Ted Boerner’s Thicket coffee table has been a reliable seller and a foundation for his livelihood. Inspired by Northern California’s redwood forests, it has modern lines, an oval glass top, and a base made of richly patinaed steel. Come March of this year, the perennial piece’s future was suddenly in jeopardy.
The Trump administration’s announcement, on March 1, of proposed steel and aluminum tariffs caused steel prices to rise and supply to shrink—destabilizing the market via a hint of uncertainty, but no actual implementation.
Boerner’s Los Angeles fabricator had to start sourcing raw material from a new source. There was no guarantee that the metal would receive its patinated finish, as it had in the past—since electroplating involves precise chemistry, and the exact composition of steel affects the results—and Boerner, whose three-person studio makes pieces to order for high-end clients and retailers like Design Within Reach, couldn’t gamble on quality or consistency. In order to make it work, he had to redesign the piece, invest in more product development, find new fabricators, and switch to powder coating, since it’s a “more forgiving” finish than plating and easily replicable by more vendors.
“Every decision I make comes down to some sort of material,” Boerner tells Curbed. His design and supply chain were affected not as a result of new policy, but just by the mere mention of tariffs. “We’re just now getting back into production. All the steps we have to do just because of a reaction to the market... For a small company, that’s a lot of money and we have to scramble.”
From independent studios to large-scale manufacturers and mass retailers, the furniture industry is already feeling the effects of tariffs, even if they’ve yet to be levied. Potential material shortages, rising manufacturing costs, slimmer profit margins, higher retail prices, and a general state of unease are forcing some American designers to evaluate their long-term design and manufacturing plans.
Why did Trump impose tariffs?
The Trump administration’s trade policy has vacillated since it began seriously discussing tariffs—another word for taxes—on metals in February. The reasoning behind tariffs is to make imported goods more expensive in order to, hopefully, stimulate the American manufacturing industry and protect American intellectual property, discouraging the production of counterfeit goods.
“It’s a never-ending bad loop we’re generating.”
When the Trump administration levied its tariffs, it claimed they would benefit American manufacturers and boost employment in the manufacturing sector. The opposite has been true for Emeco, a furniture company that has manufactured 100 percent of its products in the U.S. since it opened in 1944. Its best-known design is the Navy Chair, a piece made entirely from aluminum using a proprietary 77-step manufacturing process.
In a proprietary 77-step process, the furniture manufacturer Emeco uses 80-percent recycled aluminum from American mills to make the Navy chair. Emeco
Eighty percent of the aluminum in Emeco’s chairs comes from recycled material generated in the United States. The company’s CEO, Gregg Buchbinder, thought the tariffs wouldn’t affect him since he manufactures in America, using American metal. However, as soon as news about tariffs broke, manufacturers began stockpiling materials in anticipation of higher prices. The resulting market shortage spiked prices, since suppliers knew their customers were suddenly in a bind. Emeco did the same, stockpiling material, but paid 17 percent more than usual for its aluminum.
“When the tariff discussion began, immediately, things changed,” Buchbinder tells Curbed. “I was talking to someone in our purchasing department. They said, ‘Aluminum has gone up.’ I said ‘How is this possible? Tariffs haven’t gone up yet.’ Our supplier is maxed; they’re at full capacity, and with that, they’re able to garner higher prices.”
The price bump on Emeco’s main material has affected production: The company’s typical lead time for an order used to be four weeks. Currently, it’s 12 weeks. For the time being, Emeco isn’t raising prices—a single Navy chair’s retail price is $560—and is absorbing the additional manufacturing costs.
“We can’t tell someone it’s now going to take 12 weeks and raise prices—we’ll lose business,” Buchbinder says. “It’s a never-ending bad loop we’re generating.”
The tariffs also hurt Alcoa, the 130-year-old aluminum manufacturer supplying Emeco’s metal. While Alcoa is based in the United States, it mills raw material in Canada and has to import it back into the country for its American customers. Alcoa’s chief financial officer estimated Trump’s 10 percent tariffs would lead to an additional $14 million of expenses every month.