Tristan Titeux is the founder and head of design at Empatika, the sustainable contemporary fitted furniture business he established in London in 2003. He is also the author and publisher of “Furniture for the Future: How what you buy can change the world.”

A pioneer in eco-friendly furniture, Tristan works with sustainable materials to create stylish, purpose-built furniture. He and his team design and construct timeless pieces such as fitted cupboards and cabinets, tailored to every client’s needs. 

Tristan has joined the WWF Forest Campaign to encourage the use of sustainable and legally sourced wood.

Concerned by the waste produced by modern furniture manufacturing methods, Tristan created the Milo family of tables from waste offcuts. From here, he went on to produce pioneering examples of fitted furniture from the most eco-friendly materials, designs and ideas possible.

During his early career, Tristan honed his natural talent for visual balance and composition through his work as a music club photographer. Between 1994 and 2006, he worked for every dance music magazine in the UK, capturing images of people at clubs and festivals around the world.

Tristan’s empathy with nature is rooted in his childhood. He grew up in the Belgian countryside, where his meals typically included plants and mushrooms from the wild. His father was a regular contributor to radio programmes on the subject of wild plants.

Having moved to London, Tristan began work by advertising himself as a handyman in Notting Hill. Fixing anything wooden, he never said no to any request. Eventually, he started building furniture, which led to him founding Empatika. Today, Tristan focuses on the design and promotional side of the business.