Our Story

We started ReFunk because we love interiors but know that the furniture industry is destroying our planet. When we discovered that a whopping 10 million tonnes of furniture is discarded annually in the EU, we saw an opportunity to tackle this problem. We wanted to catalyse the circular economy in the furniture sector- in other words: to eliminate furniture waste and extend the life of existing furniture via repair, refurbishment, and upcycling.

But we soon realised that the problem went beyond the planet. Through conversations with the furniture upcycling community, we learned that 7 out of 8 upcyclers wanted to pursue upcycling full-time but didn’t know how.

Motivated to help these talented craftspeople turn their passions into business, and determined to put an end to furniture waste, we created ReFunk.

Building our start-up has been an unbelievably exciting journey to date and we are so grateful for our wonderful team and community. We’re only just beginning and can’t wait to see what the future holds for the world of furniture upcycling!

Meet the Team

Ellie Walters

Co-Founder & CEO

Ellen Ryall

Co-Founder & Head of PR and Comms

Meredith Davis

Co-Founder & Creative Director

Anna Sheehan

Co-Founder & Head of Finance and Sustainability

Niall Quirke

Head of Engineering

Accolades

Participants in the Climate-KIC Circular Cities ClimAccelerator

Winners of Trinity Provost's Innovation Challenge 2020

Winners of UPS Sustainability Sprints 2020

Finalist Trinity Entrepreneurial Society's Dragon's Den 2021

Blackstone Launchpad Fellowship Participants 2021

2nd place in Tangent's Launchbox Accelerator Programme 2021

Columbia Business School Hacking for Humanity Participants 2021

Exhibited at Web Summit 2021 and 2022

Named as 4 of Ireland’s 30 Under 30 in The Irish Independent newspaper

Participants in Going for Growth 2022 Cohort

Contact Us

Please contact us for all queries at info@refunkupcycling.com