Why We Carry Tiptoe: Paris B Corp Furniture Built to Disassemble

Tiptoe is a Paris-founded furniture company, launched in 2015 by school friends Matthieu Bourgeaux and Vincent Quesada, best known for a detachable steel table leg you can bolt to almost any surface. Every piece is designed in Paris, made 100% in Europe, and engineered to come apart for repair or recycling — one reason Tiptoe holds Certified B Corporation status. Comosum carries Tiptoe as a rare example of flat-pack furniture built to last a lifetime, not a season.

The Story Behind Tiptoe

Tiptoe began in 2015 with a single, almost stubbornly simple idea: a set of steel legs you could attach to a plank, a reclaimed door, or an old tabletop to make a real table in minutes. Founders Matthieu Bourgeaux and Vincent Quesada — school friends who wanted furniture that was beautiful and responsible in equal measure — built the whole company around that detachable leg system. Their thesis, stated plainly on the brand's own site, is that "the world does not need more furniture. It needs better furniture."

That conviction has family roots. One of Tiptoe's key manufacturing partners is a metalworking factory near Chamonix, in the French Alps, founded three generations ago by Matthieu Bourgeaux's grandfather — the workshop where the brand's precision components, down to the screws, are still made. From the leg, the catalogue grew into a full system: the LOU oak stools and benches, the SSD and ETUDE chairs, PLI folded-steel wall shelves, and the modular UNIT storage line. A decade in, Tiptoe marked its 10-year anniversary in 2025 and has expanded through designer collaborations, including the POST collection of tables and desks developed with designer Jun Yasumoto. You can browse the pieces Comosum stocks on the Tiptoe collection page.

How Tiptoe Is Built Sustainably

Materials

Tiptoe's material rule is straightforward: use things that are already recycled or easily recyclable, and always highly durable. When the brand uses virgin wood, it sources from sustainably managed European forests certified to PEFC (certificate PEFC/07-31-60) or FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) standards. Seat shells like the SSDr dining chair are molded from recycled polypropylene, the steel legs are powder-coated for weatherability, and even the packaging is made from at least 80% recycled paper.

Manufacturing

Since inception, Tiptoe has committed to 100% European production, working with around twenty partners chosen by specialization — metalwork in France, Bulgaria, Poland and Lithuania; woodwork in France, Belgium, Croatia and Romania; recycled plastic in Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Final assembly and packing are handled in partnership with French ESATs, centers that provide employment to adults with disabilities. Because every product is engineered to ship flat-pack in the fewest possible boxes, storage and freight emissions come down as well.

Certifications & Recognition

Tiptoe earned Certified B Corporation status in 2021, with a verified B Impact score of 93.1 — well above the median of 50.9 for ordinary businesses that complete the assessment. If you want the plain-English version of what that certification actually measures, we keep a B Corp certification explainer on hand, and Tiptoe sits alongside the other B Corp furniture and lighting brands we carry.

Why Tiptoe Belongs at Comosum

We spend a lot of time separating genuinely sustainable furniture from things that merely flat-pack, and Tiptoe is our clearest example of the difference. "Flat-pack" usually signals disposable; here it signals the opposite. Tiptoe designs to five published principles — make things simple, make more with less, use the right materials, build to last, and design for disassembly — so a table or shelf can be taken apart, repaired, moved, or eventually recycled cleanly because wood separates from metal. That makes Tiptoe one of the smartest choices we stock for renters and anyone who expects to move.

For anyone who has hauled a wobbling flat-pack dresser to the curb after a single move, Tiptoe is a genuinely different proposition. Because the legs unbolt and the shelves come off the wall without being destroyed in the process, the same pieces can follow you from a first apartment to a house and back — reconfigured rather than replaced. It is furniture designed to gain usefulness over time instead of depreciating into landfill, and it lets you buy in at whatever level suits the room: a single bracket now, a full dining table later, all in the same visual language.

It also fills a real gap in our range. Tiptoe rounds out our roster of vetted sustainable furniture brands with pieces that cross categories — dining and desk chairs, stools and benches, and wall-mounted shelving — all sharing the same detachable, repairable logic. If you're building a dining setup, the Tiptoe chairs pair naturally with the picks in our sustainable dining chairs buyer's guide.

Explore Tiptoe at Comosum

Tiptoe rewards a "start small, build up" approach — begin with one wall piece or stool, then extend the system as you go. A few places to start, from accessible to signature:

• Tiptoe Wall BRACKET ($65) — a single powder-coated steel bracket that turns any board into a shelf; the easiest, lowest-commitment entry into the system.
• Tiptoe PLI Steel Wall Shelf ($120) — a folded-steel wall shelf that installs flat and holds books, plants, or entryway odds and ends.
• Tiptoe LOU Stool ($310) — a solid-oak stool on detachable steel legs that doubles as a side table or extra seat.
• Tiptoe SSDr Recycled Plastic Dining Chair ($470) — a comfortable shell molded from recycled polypropylene on a steel base.
• Tiptoe Set of 4 Table Legs ($555) — the piece that started it all: four detachable legs to build (or rebuild) a dining table around any top you like.

Several of these land under the price ceiling of our Sustainable Furniture Under $500 edit. Browse the full Tiptoe collection at Comosum →

Frequently Asked Questions About Tiptoe

Where is Tiptoe furniture made?
Tiptoe manufactures 100% in Europe, working with around twenty specialized partners across France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Croatia, Romania and the United Kingdom. Its precision metal components come from a family-run factory near Chamonix in the French Alps, founded three generations ago by the founder's grandfather.

Is Tiptoe a certified B Corporation?
Yes. Tiptoe earned Certified B Corporation status in 2021 and holds a verified B Impact score of 93.1, well above the median of 50.9 for ordinary businesses that complete B Lab's assessment. The certification evaluates the company's impact on workers, community, environment, and customers.

What materials does Tiptoe use?
Tiptoe builds mainly with powder-coated steel, solid wood from PEFC- or FSC-certified European forests, and recycled polypropylene for its molded seat shells. The brand prioritizes materials that are already recycled or easily recyclable, and ships everything in packaging made from at least 80% recycled paper.

What does designing for disassembly mean?
It means each product is engineered from the start to come apart — built from very few, interchangeable components so it can be repaired, moved, or recycled at the end of its life. Because wood separates cleanly from metal, materials can be recovered rather than sent to landfill. It is one of Tiptoe's five core design principles.

Is Tiptoe flat-pack furniture durable?
Yes. Tiptoe designs to a built-to-last principle, runs each product through multiple testing phases, and backs its range with a functional warranty. The detachable steel legs are meant to be unbolted and reused across tops and moves rather than thrown away.