Oi on Dragons’ Den

Oi Furniture was featured on CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den (Season 5, Episode 18, original air date: Wednesday, March 9, 2011). More than two million viewers from across Canada watched to discover what happened in the Den when Jason Abbott from Cocoon pitched Oi Furniture. The segment was filmed back in April 2010. View the show

A brief history of Oi:

Oi Furniture was founded in 2006 as the result of an internal initiative at Cocoon. The result – a new brand of environmentally low-impact cellular furniture – captured international interest and attention when the first prototype was unveiled at New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF).

Since that time, Oi cells have gone into limited production and have landed in commercial and residential spaces in cities including New York, Miami, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, Minneapolis, and Chicago. In December 2010, Oi was chosen as part of WIRED magazine’s holiday ‘wish list’ and was featured at the WIRED pop-up store in New York. Oi’s packaging was also recognized by TheDieline.com – the world’s largest package design website – as one of the top 100 package designs around the world for 2010.

“The idea for Oi may have been born at Cocoon, but it needed to be its own brand in order to grow,” said Kyle Romaniuk, Principal at Cocoon Branding and also co-founder and VP, Brand Development at Oi Furniture. “The success of Oi speaks to the strength of Cocoon’s ability to continuously innovate engaging brands. People are surprised to hear that a branding agency created and launched a furniture company, but I believe the possibilities of what you can create are endless if you are truly open to innovation.”

“It was so exciting to have the opportunity to participate in the Dragons’ Den process,” said Cocoon’s Jason Abbott.