The new industrial design trend in hospitality and retail fit-outs

Supply chain issues have been a constant source of concern for specifiers in the commercial interiors industry since Covid-19 hit and supply chain delays became commonplace.

But entrepreneur Matt Guddat saw a way to counter this issue, with industrial-style furniture and fittings that are modular in nature, and can be supplied en masse.

It was during Covid-19 when Matt was studying business, when he encountered the popularity of pipe furniture in the UK, which he says is usually a couple of years ahead of New Zealand in terms of interior fashions. 

“I saw this opportunity and thought, well hey, let’s do pipe furniture in New Zealand.”

Matt committed to the opportunity, naming the company Iron Moa to reflect the strength of the iconic but now extinct New Zealand bird, and naively ordered seven tonnes of pipe to be delivered to his home address. 

At the time he didn’t quite comprehend the amount of product that would arrive, and because he had ordered it without packaging, each piece had to be painstakingly shifted into his garage by hand. 

Thankfully, the product was an instant hit when he started operating three months later, and within three months of selling Matt and his wife had to shift the operation to a bigger premises to deal with the volume that was being sold.

The product appealed predominantly to retail and hospitality fit-outs, where it was used for shelving, clothing rails and wardrobe units, as well as tables and desks. 

Matt says the biggest advantage the product has is its modular capabilities. 

“We have seemingly countless modular components in stock and ready to go. This makes tailored products easy to build and saves our customers money on otherwise labour intensive customisations - we just pick the right parts off the shelf and ship. Customers often reuse components for different projects when they want to change things around.

“We design all of our products here for the New Zealand market, for example, the standard building code requires 600mm wide studs, so we've designed our products around that and created high quality finishes, which is what the market expects,” says Matt. 

Iron Moa also supplies the pipe in a range of custom finishes to work with different aesthetics, including matte black, a concrete grey that works well in industrial settings, and their latest offering, rustic bronze. 

“We apply a special finish to prevent scratches or flaking like you can get with lesser products.”

In addition to these options, the shelving, tables and desks are supplied with the option of timber tops. All of the timber used is sourced locally, or reclaimed and reused. Timber options include native timbers, macrocarpa, pine, and douglas fir.

“A lot of businesses that are coming to us are looking for that brand experience when they walk into their shop - they want the materials to feel ‘real’,” says Matt. “A client of ours that we think really nailed that was Swanndri, who used steel pipe with wooden shelves in their fit-out, and you walk into that place and it really embodies the Swanndri brand.”

For commercial spaces, Iron Moa has the capability to supply CAD components and renders to specifiers if needed. 

Discover industrial-style pipe products by Iron Moa