Corner 43 Decor offers a Unique Approach to Design
Corner 43 Decor, a local wicker and rattan manufacturer and exporter, is a company with a difference. It has no plans to grow bigger rapidly by stepping into mass production, but wants to develop its own unique designs and Thailand's artisan heritage.
The company's business concept is to offer only masterpieces or unique designs to its clients. Each design features a dynamic function that matches with the human body.
Corner 43 Decor does not want to be a large-scale exporting company, but will develop step by step, focusing on design and quality. It expects to achieve sales of Bt15 million next year to support its 30 workers.
"We try to be the architects of the best products; to achieve our style and design. We are a niche producer," says the company's general manager, Minya Bunyaketu.
Minya, 25, was working in the United Kingdom, and enjoying it, when she was persuaded to return to Bangkok in 2004 to take over her family's business and pave the way for her mother, Pansiri's, retirement.
Minya has proven to be a more pragmatic manager than her artistic mother, who launched the business 20 years ago. She has worked closely with both designers and workers to ensure both design and product quality.
The company's products have been developed with innovative design, to show the dimensions of rattan and the Thai heritage of skills in wickerwork. The modern designs fit well with customer demand.
"Our young designers have their own innovative ideas instead of focusing on traditional designs. They see rattan design is an art work rather than as a piece of furniture," Minya says.
Strong design is the company's marketing strategy when competing with rivals. Minya has had to face tough competition, unlike her mother, who was a pioneer without a competitor in the market.
In the past, all the company's designs were created by Pansiri, who graduated in interior design from a school in Paris. She saw that Thai rattan furniture lacked good design and quality development.
Her work was to make the company a key player that brought new design and quality to the country's rattan furniture industry.
Amid today's tough competition, Minya says rivals have purchased pieces from her company as ordinary customers, then have taken the pieces to China to have them copied and offered on overseas markets for almost half her price.
"Our clients have complained that they have found the same product with a cheaper price. There is a special need for customers to care that what they are buying is a unique product and not a mass-produced thing. I have to explain various factors to them, such as quality and raw materials, so they have a better understanding," she says.
Copyright violation is normal practice in Asia, but it's usually found in fashionable products such as shoes and apparel rather than furniture, she says philosophically. Rather than taking legal action, she tries to explain to customers the difference between genuine and imitation products.
Despite the high cost of design, Corner 43 Decor's prices have a broad range, starting from Bt500 and going up to Bt60,000 per piece.
"We don't want to be an exclusive manufacturer. We want to allow all classes of customers, from children through to older people, to purchase our products," she says.
When she took over the company, Minya was more familiar with Western than Thai culture, having spent 10 years living abroad. It brought her difficulties at the start, because of her lack of "connections" and close friends in Thailand.
"I had to rebuild my foundations here to ensure my management skills. It was a good chance and a challenge to come back home," she says.
Minya graduated in journalism from the American University of Paris, and finds it has helped her writing style, enabling her to reach the minds of consumers and communicate with people more successfully.
In the beginning, Minya had problems dealing with the company's workers because of her lack of understanding of the work system, Thai culture and the working culture. However, the problems were settled and she is now able to manage the company's 30 employees.
"I try to mix the Western working culture with the Thai style to smooth management and make myself neutral, to solve unexpected problems here," she says, adding that she is striving to reach a professional level of management, with high efficiency.
It appears to be paying off. Last year the company won the distinguished G-Mark Award (good design award) from Japan.
Corner 43 Decor is aiming for a 50:50 split between the export and domestic markets.
Its main export markets include the UK, Greece and Japan. Domestic clients include five-star hotels such as the Grand Hyatt Erawan, and corporations such as the Central Group, Land and Houses, P49 Design, Thai Airways International and Unocal Thailand, as well as government agencies and foreign embassies in Bangkok.
This article appeared in THE NATION ONLINE PUBLICATION written by Achara Pongvutitham
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/11/30/business/business_30020337.php
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