When Swyft CEO Keiran Hewkin first got into the furniture sector, something didn’t sit right. After years in industry, the more creative world of furniture was a welcome change, but Keiran felt that there was room for improvement.
“I had worked in the automotive and oil & gas sectors where there are extreme tolerances and complex supply chains,” Keiran reveals. “I loved the more laidback world of furniture, but soon my manufacturing mindset kicked in.
“Back then, the average customer was waiting three months for a sofa that only took eight hours to build. There’s a huge discrepancy there. I said to myself, how can we bridge that gap?”
Runaway Success
It was in trying to answer this question that Swyft was born – a furniture manufacturer that ‘makes things easy’ for its customers. Launched by Keiran in 2019, the company’s first product was the original ‘sofa in a box’. Simple to assemble and easy to transport, it could be with the customer just a day after ordering.
“People told us that nobody would want homeware goods that quickly, but I didn’t believe it,” Keiran says. “When you look at everything else in our lives, we want more faster, and better quality. Frictionless homeware goods with easy delivery was a natural progression.”
Since the runaway success of its sofa in a box, Swyft has branched out into a wide range of furniture products, including dining tables, chairs, and beds. Despite the expanding portfolio, each product Swyft develops is designed with the same care and attention as its very first.
“We want to create products that matter – beautiful objects that we think will appeal to a lot of people and that we can get to customers quickly,” Keiran declares. “We put a lot of thought and effort into design. In order to do as we promise and get products to people the next day, we have quite a large inventory commitment, so you have to be sure that each new product is a winner.”
Swyft’s ability to deliver on its concept across a growing range of products is already helping the company reach the next level. For instance, despite launching less than six months ago, non-upholstered furniture items are already accounting for around 10% of the company’s revenue. For Keiran, Swyft’s continuing success is largely down to trust in the brand.
“We’re not a sofa company. We’ve never positioned ourselves as such,” Keiran points out. “We’re a company that solved a problem in the furniture world, and now that we’ve gained that trust, our customers have given us permission to branch out into other categories. It’s not easy for a company to do that, but I’m really proud of what our team has achieved.”
Visionary Ethos
Swyft’s organic design process has been instrumental in its capacity to find solutions. After identifying gaps in its current range, the company’s design team works through concepts until the product “feels right”. Though it might sound purely intuitive, Keiran makes clear that the method requires as much discipline as creativity.
“We reject a lot of products in development,” he confirms. “We say no to more designs than we say yes to, but I think that’s an important part of the process. Eventually, we reach a point where the consensus among myself and the designers is that the product is worthy of being in our portfolio.”
One such product is the company’s Model 04 sofa bed. Determined to improve on the market’s existing offering, the Swyft design team set out to create a sofa bed that customers would be proud to have in their homes.
“It was accepted in the industry that you couldn’t sell a sofa bed for above £1500,” Keiran remarks. “They are often a cheap and cheerful secondary item in a house, likely purchased for a guest room. That all seemed backwards to me though.
“A sofa bed should be something that is comfortable enough for you to sleep on if you offer guests your main bed, or, ideally, a product you are proud to put your guests in. That was our brief, and we nailed it.”
The Model 04 can be assembled without tools and is available for next-day delivery. It has been the company’s bestseller since its launch, and has spawned Model 02, Model 08 and Model 11 iterations. It is, in some ways, a physical manifestation of Swyft’s visionary ethos.
“We identify gaps and develop products that create demand in that space,” Keiran comments. “A high-quality (mass market) sofa bed over £2000 had never been done because nobody had approached the problem like we did.”
Products That People Love
Swyft is now providing furniture and homeware solutions for more people than ever before. The company expanded into Germany in February 2025 and has already seen a positive response to its products.
“German customers are buying a different mix to the UK,” Keiran notes. “We are selling a lot of dining tables out there, so we are just trying to make sure we can keep people happy and keep up with that demand.”
In terms of the company’s wider future, Swyft will not be altering its course or changing its core philosophy. Storage beds and outdoor furniture are set to be among the next products to represent the brand, and like everything Swyft does, they will be aesthetically pleasing, easy to assemble, and in customers’ homes the very next day.
“A lot of business is about continuing to do what you already do well. We want to carry on growing our product portfolio with the aim of producing three or four pieces for each room that really matter,” Keiran says in summary. “Furniture is often something that people purchase around big life milestones, like getting married or buying a house. In our small way, we want to be part of those significant moments by delivering thoughtful, well-designed products that people love.”
