This is our story...
Working at Sixty Fruits and the people around me give me so much positive energy, joy and love. It is indescribable! I am so grateful that I have come across this and get to experience it (Participant).
Often people don't understand me. Sixty Fruits is a place where I feel safe and where I can be myself and learn to get along with others (Participant).
Sixtyfruits is a foundation and we use business to achieve our social goals. We strive for customer focus and excellence through continuous improvement, creativity and achieving sound financial results. These results are essential to funding our own growth and continuing our mission. A strong focus on quality and innovation allows us to increase our social impact while remaining financially stable. This allows us to combine our core value "love works" with effective business operations, achieving our social goals and building a sustainable business. In this way, we contribute to positive change and help build a better world.
We work with people who are distanced from the labor market. At Sixtyfruits, they find recovery, can develop and flourish. By supporting them in their personal and professional growth, we help them reach their maximum potential. Our approach is inspired by Jesus, who is our example in care, compassion and guidance.
We restore vintage furniture and create new furniture in a vintage style. Every year we offer work to dozens of people with a short to very long distance from the labor market. Each participant receives personal support from care professionals who are focused and attentive. This support helps them develop their skills and contribute to a valuable product. Through our work, we not only create beautiful furniture, but also contribute to the professional growth and integration of people who could use an extra helping hand. In this way we combine craftsmanship with social commitment and offer a chance to actively participate in the labor process again.
The first beginning
In the summer of 2014, Sixty Fruits was founded by four associates. This was still on a small scale: with a van, they drove to England to pick up furniture, which they restored in a small building. From the beginning, the goal was to help people get back to work. Therefore, a social worker was soon hired and people with a distance to the labor market could come to Sixty Fruits .
The armchairs by Rob Parry
As of 2018, we are making new models of the original Rob Parry armchairs. The daughter of Rob Parry, the designer known for the PTT letterboxes from the 1960s, was in our showroom for a piece of furniture. She then mentioned that her father was looking for a social enterprise to revive his old design. With the help of a design studio and together with Mr. Parry, we created new designs after the old model: the Lotus with the pyramid base and the smaller 1611 with straight legs, each with matching footstool.
Bathroom furniture
Around 2019, we started offering bathroom furniture. This started on a small scale with a few basins in stock. The next step was a marble supplier for a stone top, a regular carrier to deliver everything neatly, and now we can even furnish entire bathrooms! A unique concept: put together your own bathroom with our experienced advisors using a beautiful vintage piece of furniture as a centerpiece.
Relocation
For years we were in two company buildings, twenty meters apart. One building housed the chair department, the other the dressers. As the company grew, that began to get more and more chafing. So in 2023 we moved to a former laboratory. We demolished the interior together and decorated it piece by piece, with poured terrazzo floors from our terrazzo supplier and beautiful mosaic tiles in the showroom.
In-house training
What we are very proud of: since 2024 we have been working with the Graafschap College. From our company, participants can train to become furniture makers. They can do a large part of the training at our premises with teachers on site. From Sixty Fruits they can get their MBO diploma, making the step to a paid job a little smaller again. Three students are already working!
