"Going green is no longer fashionable", Arnaud Vanpoperinghe (E95), CEO of Tikamoon

Building furniture designed to last for generations: this is the commitment of Arnaud Vanpoperinghe (E95), who founded furniture brand Tikamoon in 2010. Sixteen years later, despite rising raw material costs and the backlash surrounding environmental issues, his convictions remain unchanged. He has just launched Circle, a second-hand furniture buy-back scheme.

“In the past, the heroes of the company were traffic managers. Today, they are our cabinetmakers,” says Arnaud Vanpoperinghe with satisfaction. At the end of 2025, Tikamoon launched Circle, a second-hand furniture resale and buy-back programme. The principle is simple: any customer who has previously purchased from Tikamoon can sell their furniture back to the brand, which restores the pieces in its workshops in Northern France before putting them back on sale. In return, the seller receives a voucher worth between 30% and 60% of the original purchase price, regardless of the furniture’s age. Tikamoon has already restored 7,000 pieces and estimates that one million eligible items are currently in circulation across Europe.

The idea stemmed from a simple observation. “We build furniture designed to last 100 years. Today, these pieces are highly sought after on the second-hand market because tastes, needs and lifestyles evolve. With Circle, we are offering a lifetime buy-back service.”

Slow furniture

Circle extends a model launched back in 2010 around a clear promise: stylish, durable and environmentally responsible furniture. “Being virtuous is not enough. Our commitments must be accompanied by genuine customer service. Circle demonstrates the durability of our products.” Today, the group sells furniture made from solid oak, mahogany and teak, across a wide range of price points, enabling it to appeal to a broad customer base. Wood lies at the heart of the model. Tikamoon sources timber from France, Eastern Europe and Asia. “We are agnostic about where the wood comes from, but extremely attentive to how it is harvested. We select mature wood and ensure it is replanted afterwards.” Only 10% of the timber used comes from France — a deliberate trade-off to keep prices accessible. “The carbon footprint becomes negligible for furniture designed to last 100 years,” explains the CEO.

An intuitive participative leader

Describing himself as an “intuitive participative” leader, he admits to having “kept a lid on his emotions for two decades” throughout a career spent in consulting firms and large corporations. His benchmark business model is Patagonia. “I suffered greatly from the obligation to rationalise everything. Today, I can fully embrace my managerial singularity. When creating a company, survival comes first. To survive, you first need to take off.”

To achieve that take-off, he initially focused on digital, marketing and traffic managers, drawing on Northern France’s ecosystem, rich in digital and logistics talent shaped by retail giants. In fifteen years, the group has grown from 5 to 250 employees, while turnover has risen from zero to €110 million. Tikamoon is now present in nine European countries and expanded into the United States a year and a half ago, just before Donald Trump returned to power. “We did not face any barriers to entry,” notes Arnaud Vanpoperinghe. He nevertheless acknowledges the difficult context. “It is no longer fashionable to be committed to environmental causes. First there was green indifference, then the post-Covid awareness phase, followed by greenwashing. We are now in an era of green bashing. Ultimately, I believe we would rather be deeply appreciated by a few people than slightly appreciated by many.” 

New challenges

This context is compounded by more immediate challenges. First, the war in Iran, whose consequences remain uncertain. “At this stage, we have no idea what the long-term impact will be. However, fluctuations in oil prices directly affect our business. We sell remotely, so rising crude oil prices weigh both on our own prices and on our customers’ purchasing power.”

Then there is AI, which is “changing the game”. Tikamoon has already integrated it into its support functions: customer advisers, who operate in six languages, are now assisted by artificial intelligence. Arnaud Vanpoperinghe is also closely monitoring changing consumer behaviour, with 41% of consumers now consulting AI before making a purchase (Source: National Retail Federation x IBM Institute for Business Value study). It is a shift the brand intends to anticipate rather than endure. “We are fully on board, while remaining extremely vigilant regarding the use of artificial intelligence.”

Committed yet clear-eyed, Arnaud Vanpoperinghe is determined not to stray from his course, especially as his teams rely on him. “People join us because we are committed. In a world heading towards +3°C warming, we want to play our part.” He concludes: “I am convinced there is room for profitable growth that also respects people and the planet.”