"I've always wanted to be in the furniture business" says Jackie Jackson
Jackson 5 member Jackie Jackson, who recently launched furniture brand Hayvenhurst with his wife Emily Jackson and Dutch designer Robert Milder, explains why he made the move from singing to sofas in this exclusive interview.
Jackie Jackson achieved global fame as the oldest member of the Jackson 5, one of the most successful recording groups of all time while more than 150 million records sold. But, he claims, he has long wanted to create furniture.
"This is something I've always wanted to do – be in the furniture business," he told Dezeen from his home in Las Vegas.
"I didn't know I was going to get there, but I've always wanted to be in this business."
He explained that founding Hayvenhurst was the culmination of an idea that gestated in his early days touring the world during the 1970s and 80s with the Jackson 5 alongside his brothers Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael.
"When my brothers and I would travel around the world doing concerts, we stayed in some of the best hotels you can ever imagine, and I used to look at the lobby in these hotels and see the furniture," he said.
"I would go out and buy all these magazines, I would travel with my brothers and look at luxury furniture and homes on the plane travelling to the next gig," he continued.
"I would just look at the fashion, furniture and design, I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I would just look at them all the time – you know, it was the dream."
Named after the Jackson family home in Encino, California, the Hayvenhurst furniture brand was launched last year with a strong focus on sustainability.
It is led by Jackie Jackson alongside his wife Emily Jackson and Dutch designer Milder.
"Hayvenhurst is the street we lived in Los Angeles and I thought it'd be a great name for a company for sustainable furniture," said Jackie Jackson.
"Hayvenhurst sounded epic to me, so we decided to take that name and use it for our company."
"Jackie always wanted to do his own furniture line"
The impetus for creating the brand came when Jackie and Emily Jackson couldn't find suitable sustainable furniture options when they were updating their own home.
"Jackie always wanted to do his own furniture line," explained Emily Jackson. "Then when we were remodelling our home in Las Vegas there were very few choices, if any, for sustainable solutions for your home."
"So we noticed there was a gap in the market for sustainable, luxury furniture."
Emily Jackson contacted Milder, who previously founded sustainable furniture brand Van de Sant, to develop the idea as she was aware that he was creating furniture with frames made from recycled plastic.
"I happened to hear about a Dutch company that was sustainable and took rebound ocean plastics to use in their frames," said Emily Jackson.
"And so I contacted him, and we put two and two together. Jackie has a passion and a lot of design ideas so let's be future forward and do something the right way for our children and the next generation."
Havenhurst's founders even believe that making sustainable furniture contributes to the legacy and values of the wider Jackson family.
"It fits beautifully with the what the Jackson family has always stood for: peace, unity and a more positive future," said Emily Jackson.
"You know, Michael had his songs about the Earth, about healing the world – and fans can really appreciate that too. When you do something, do it right and see the longer-term benefit in healing in the world."
Sofas made from recycled plastic, sheep wool, horse hair and natural latex
Hayvenhurst designs sofas and armchairs, which are all made predominantly from "recovered" materials, with frames made from recycled plastic.
Unlike most sofas, the brand's products do not use plastic foam, instead using a combination of sheep wool, horse hair, natural latex rubber and bio-based synthetics covered in natural materials, including linen and hemp.
"We use recycled plastic from the land and ocean, collaborating with recycling companies, and we press it in sheets to make the frame, so the frames are completely made from recycled content," explained Milder.
"Then depending on the designs, we use layers of sheep wool, coconut hair and horse hair, plus a layer from natural latex rubber – so it is foam, but natural," he continued. "Also in some pieces there's a layer of recycled jeans."
Hayvenhurst calculated that its No.1 Loveseat armchair utilised 25 kilograms of recycled plastic. By utilising recycled materials and renewable energy, the brand estimates that manufacturing the chair uses around 50 kilograms less CO2 than a standard armchair.
The brand also claims that selecting less water-intensive materials has reduced the amount of water consumed by the supply and manufacturing process.
It estimates that producing the No.1 Loveseat armchair consumes around 1,600 gallons of water, which is around 2,000 gallons less than the industry average.
"We can deconstruct completely, so it's completely circular"
According to Hayvenhurst, all of the materials are sourced transparently, with origin, processing, and environmental impact tracked from source to final production.
The sofas are designed to be disassembled and the brand will buy back the products at the end of their life, with the aim of returning the materials into its manufacturing cycle.
"I tell people after the end of lifecycle, we take it back, we buy it back from the from the customer, and use every part again in our manufacturing process," explained Milder.
"We can deconstruct completely, so it's completely circular. We already think that on the designs when we make it, that we always make sure that the infrastructure can be used."
Although the core emphasis for the founders is sustainability, they believe that a strong design focus will allow them to sell their furniture to customers who may not necessarily care about sustainability.
"Hayvenhurst has to become a brand that is known for being sustainable, but design is the most important, because we realise that sustainability is a thing that floats away," said Milder.
"Just before Covid, everyone was talking about sustainability, but now it is floating away," he continued. "So Emily, Jackie and I are really thinking about what market we can go for and that's design, and if it's sustainable then this is a plus, because everything adds up."
Along with aesthetics, the founders are aiming to create sofas that are extremely comfortable, as they believe that too many sofas are not designed to actually be sat on.
"It's about style and comfort," said Jackie Jackson. "Comfort is really important, you can sit on a couch and it doesn't feel right – well, that's a different story."
"People are always surprised when we when we show them the cut through of the sofas that there is Dutch wool inside and recycled jeans – all components that are atypical," said Emily Jackson.
"Most of the time, it's all man-made materials, but in our case, what makes it so extra comfortable is the natural materials."
Jackie Jackson believes that there are similarities between making music and designing furniture, and hopes his latest venture will add to his impressive musical legacy.
"It's true, this is creating in the same way," he said. "This is the future, sustainable furniture for our kids and family."
"That's where I think it's heading right now and we are able to jump on it right at the early stage, but this is where it's going."
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