Accessibility Statement
Casakids.com Accessibility and Equitable Use Statement
We are committed to providing equitable access and mindful of accessibility standards, user feedback, and support and accommodations for persons with disabilities. We advocate for equitable experiences in light of universal design to make www.casakids.com more welcoming, accessible, and usable for all visitors and customers.
General
Access to any company’s website can be challenging for persons having certain disabilities. A person’s disability is often unique. What may work well for one person, may cause difficulties for another person. Our company has made significant efforts to accommodate as many of our customers and potential customers as is reasonable given our size, resources, and knowledge of our customers, and potential customer’s needs.
We have engaged the services of an accessibility and equitable use coordinator, technology professionals, and users with certain disabilities to test our website, assist and advise us in making improvements on an on-going basis.
Accessibility and Equitable Use on this Website
Our website provides several methods, features, and policies that can help with access to our website and/or to products or services provided or referred to on our website or by our business.
There are also various aids available by third parties and which are provided by most browsers.
If you are having difficulty with access to our website even after utilizing any access features within this website and/or any third party or browser features, we invite you to contact us for further assistance. Contact information is set forth below.
Disclaimer
We anticipate that from time to time, within our resources, we will be making modifications to parts of our website, and possibly modifications to accessibility of our website.
Reasonable efforts toward improving seamless, accessible, and unhindered use of websites by customers and potential customers is generally a worthwhile goal. Moving closer to this goal will often depend on the knowledge the company has regarding any particular difficulties those using the website might encounter, as well as available resources and improvements with technology.
Despite the efforts we may have made regarding equitable use and accessibility, consistent with normal business practices for a company of or size and resources, some content, features, processes, or policies, may be improved, so we always welcome your suggestions.
Procurement and Third Party Applications
As part of our procurement and use of Third Party Applications and certain content, where possible, we attempt to test and remediate any accessibility or equitable use issues that may arise. When needed, we request third-party applications or content providers to ensure they provide accessibility and equitable use as part of universal design functionality.
Our website may use third-party add-ons or “plug-ins” for certain functions social media feeds, etc. These may not work or may not work the same for every user and/or every type of disability. We do not have control over the structure of these plugins, and are unable to modify them at all or to the extent that would accommodate every user of our website, and are not responsible for those elements which we do not control. We request you to contact us and let us know if you encounter any such issues.
Video
Our website has videos containing montages and animation with music and without any narration or dialogue. Our website also has videos that offer tutorials and information. Where applicable, we have attempted to ensure that each video has either close captioning or text equivalent located next to the video.
We are Here for You
If you are experiencing difficulties with any content on our website because of a disability, or if you require assistance with any part of our site because of your particular disability, please contact us and let us know. We will be happy to assist.
The following telephone number is only for assisting you if you require assistance with any part of our site because of your particular disability or because you are having difficulty in accessing or navigating any part of our website because of your particular disability. This number is not to be used for sales or product information, but is to be used for help using, understanding, and/or navigating our website and information set forth on the website. Other pages and/or links within our website may contain other telephone numbers to assist with sales, service, product information, accounts, or other aspects of our business.
However, as noted above, if you have a disability that has caused or may likely cause you difficulty in accessing or navigating any part of our website because of your particular disability, you can call us toll free at: Tel: 718-694-0272
This telephone number for assisting persons with disabilities, including but not limited to blind and visually impaired persons, is available 24 hours / 7 days a week.
You can also send an email, explaining in as much detail as possible, what type of difficulty you had, or may have had, or believe others may have.
These types of emails should be sent to us with the subject to include the word Accessibility at: info@casakids.com for forwarding to us.
Note: if the email is sent to a third-party website or mail server for forwarding to us, the third-party website or mail servers does not itself read or respond to these emails, but will only forward such email to us without prior review.
In contacting us by telephone or email, your privacy will be strictly protected. This means that
you will not be required to provide any personal information, including but not limited to your:
Name, address, telephone number, the specific type of disability you may have, information about goods, products, or services you might be interested in, email address (unless you include it in an email you send to us or to our representatives).
This website may or may not have links to third-party websites. A few third-party websites (which may or may not have a link or relation to this website) may have their own accessibility features. A number (but not all) links to descriptions of or information about third-party website features as provided by some of these third-party websites are listed here for your convenience. This website has not reviewed these statements by others and does not render an opinion on the accuracy of these statements.
For Google Products, including but not limited to:
Chrome
Android
Gmail
https://www.google.com/accessibility/products-features/
Firefox Browser
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tota11y-accessibility-toolkit/
Internet Explorer
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17456/windows-internet-explorer-ease-of-access-options
Instagram Accessibility Announcement
Also, for reference, are the following, which this website has not reviewed or tested. By including these references, this website is not rendering an opinion on any statement made by any of these third parties or contained within any part of these links.
Third-Party Screen Readers:
JAWS https://www.freedomscientific.com/products/software/jaws/
A general discussion of Screen Readers by the American Foundation of the Blind https://www.afb.org/blindness-and-low-vision/using-technology/assistive-technology-products/screen-readers
MEET THE DESIGNER
Brooklyn-based architect, designer and father of two Roberto Gil was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He received his Masters in Architecture from Harvard University in 1990, and worked as an architect for Fox & Fowle and Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects in New York before starting his furniture company in 1992. Roberto’s colorful pieces were soon seen in the windows of Barneys New York, FAO Schwarz and in the museum shops of the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim and the MoMA. Roberto has designed successful furniture collections for Crate and Barrel and Williams-Sonoma. His influences include Gerit Rietveld, Jean Prouve, Le Corbusier and Donald Judd, as well as a delight in everyday objects and pop culture.
As an architect, Roberto understands the space in which his furniture lives, particularly the small, oddly shaped rooms that often characterize urban dwellings. Roberto finds creative, customized solutions to the challenges these spaces pose through an understanding of circulation, lighting, orientation, air flow, and privacy - and how these elements affect the layout of a room.
Ultimately, Roberto’s pieces are less designed than constructed. They are marked by an efficient use of materials and intuitive connection systems, and it is no surprise that he cites sawhorses and scaffolding as inspirations for his own version of practical minimalism.
To watch where Roberto gets his creativity and why he started to design, please view that video
THE EARLY DESIGNS
Since its founding in 1992, Casa Kids has embraced a simple approach to its designs: functionality above decor and durability over most everything else. We achieve longevity in our products by building adaptable systems of furniture that are designed to evolve just as kids do. Once a child grows out of his or her loft bed, for example, the cabinets underneath the loft can be moved and used as independent pieces. None of the rooms we design are themed so the furniture will never appear dated or outgrown. We have been watching children interact with our furniture for more than 25 years and our designs are shaped by their size and scale, as well as by how the world looks from their (slightly shorter) perspectives. Our furniture is ergonomically appropriate for children’s smaller bodies and is designed to engage a child’s imagination by providing safe and creative spaces for work and play.
Proudly Made in Brooklyn
At Casa Kids, being good to the kids we serve also means being kind to the planet they call home. We only use wood that has been harvested through sustainable practices and all of our products are made locally, eliminating the environmental impact implicit in shipping. Our custom bedroom furniture is also modular and highly adaptive, so it remains with the families we service for years. This dramatically reduces waste and promotes sustainability in terms of our planet’s natural resources.
All of our furniture is built in Brooklyn by our own small team of woodworkers, and the hands that make the first cut into a piece of birch plywood (our most commonly used material) are the same hands that install a piece of furniture in a customer’s home. We employ traditional hand woodworking techniques, in addition to our new CNC router that has allowed us to increase precision and consistency in our cuts, as well reduce lead times for our customers. We do the finishing for all of our pieces ourselves in our on-site finishing facilities.
Home installation for all of our projects is done with our own insured, likable, and speedy crew. We are usually in and out of customers’ homes in one to two days (depending on the project) because we assemble all of our projects ahead of time in our shop. This ensures a quick, clean installation so that our customers can get back to living their lives. In their new furniture, of course.
Casa Kids’ showroom is located at 106 Ferris Street in Red Hook, directly adjacent to our wood shop, where parents and kids are invited to visit us in our natural habitat. With a view of the shop, where our builders are hard at work, kids are invited to touch, climb and play, while parents have an opportunity to speak with our staff. The showroom, shop and design studio are located in a brick warehouse that sits directly on the Brooklyn waterfront and offers a view of the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan. A visit to the shop is also a great excuse to explore Red Hook, where IKEA, Fairway, and a series of cozy storefronts and cafes have made their homes.
MATERIALS WE USE
Our beds are made with baltic birch plywood, a very strong material that is certified by both the FSC (Forest Steward Council) and CARB (California Air Resources Board). This assures that the trees were legally harvested and that the bonding glue has no formaldehyde in it. We never use particle board, which is a much lower grade material that disintegrates over time. Our finishes are water-based, non-toxic, and safe for toys. The surfaces of our plywood are rolled with an acrylic based coating, it is UV cured and have no VOC’s (volatile organic compounds). The edges are hand brushed with a natural wax oil that provides a smooth finish.
Our primary finishes are birch, oak, walnut, and white. Accents can be added in white. Plywood edges will always be exposed on our furniture, regardless of finish. Custom accent colors can be requested. We will match your color of choice with a Benjamin Moore swatch. Contact us directly for custom colors.
WHY PLYWOOD INSTEAD OF SOLID WOOD?
Solid wood has many limitations. Lumber boards rarely exceed 8" or 10" in width and they expand and contract with seasonal moisture changes. This phenomenon creates warpage, cracks and checks on the wood that are irreversible and hard to predict. In the "old days", older and larger trees were available and inexpensive. Plus there was more time to let the lumber dry. Today, trees are cut at a much younger age plus we have become aware of how damaging it is for the environment to destroy our natural forests. The FSC certification assure that the wood that we use comes from trees that are from managed plantations and renewable sources. Plywood instead is a very efficient way of using the tree. A plywood panel is a "sandwich" of many layers of thin wood, also called veneers. The tree logs are sliced into thin sheets very much like you sharpen a pencil in a rotary motion. All these layers of thin birch wood are glued under pressure creating a plywood sheet, typically 48" by 96". This is a very efficient way of using wood since little is wasted in the peeling of the timber. It also allows us to create pieces that are much wider than any single piece of lumber and since the layers are glued to each other alternating the grain direction, warpage and movement due to moisture changes do not happen.
The birch plywood we use is typically ¾” thick and is composed of 13 layers of the same material. We leave the edges exposed since birch is a very strong wood and the lines that show in the edges have a natural appeal.
Ready to start your custom project?
If you are in the NYC area, or just have questions about our modern furniture collections, we invite you to connect with Casa Kids today.