Furnishing Futures

From sofas to saucers, pictures to pans, Furnishing Futures is a charity that transforms homes for women and children fleeing domestic abuse, creating trauma-informed, professionally designed homes – all at no cost to the people it supports.

Women and children escaping domestic abuse are often given unfurnished social housing, which comes without any flooring, white goods or curtains. Women who have had to leave everything behind when fleeing abuse often don’t have the financial means to start again, but it is exactly at this point in their journey that families need the security of a safe and comfortable home.

Less than 2% of social housing comes with any kind of furnishing, including flooring. Yet, the interior design industry routinely throws away objects that were used for display, photoshoots, returned by customers, or are merely out of season.

Founded by social worker and interior designer Emily Wheeler, the registered charity partners with specialist domestic abuse services and some of the UK’s best-known interior brands, stylists and designers, saving well-designed furnishings from landfill to create beautiful homes that uplift women and children at a vulnerable moment in their lives.

WHAT WE DO FOR Furnishing Futures

As a company with deep professional and personal connections to the world of architecture and design, as well as charities helping people experiencing housing precarity, we were blown away by Emily’s innovative and energetic vision. While we wait for the government to step up and do what it should, initiatives such as Furnishing Futures outline a blueprint for the industry playing a positive role.

furnishingfutures.org