The Story
It was amazing how it all happened. Being a veteran of international travel (mostly to Asia) and having an understanding of both sourcing and marketing to and from Asia, I was in Vietnam on a trip to meet with my good friends and business partners in that country. At the time I was focused on selling US Made products to Asia, and we were doing quite well. During the day on a trip outside of Saigon I was informed we were stopping by to visit a family friend, who happened to own a ‘furniture company’. A great visit followed and friendships were born. I was asked at the end of our visit if I wanted to see the furniture. Having an eye for sourcing from my experiences living and working in Hong Kong and China, I was certainly interested and we followed our host to what was clearly not a ‘company’ but a full sized factory with several sub-factories in the area. It was then I was introduced to this beautiful furniture, made out of a wood I hadn’t before seen.

I was very impressed with Vietnam several years earlier. I first traveled to Vietnam in the Spring of 1993. I was living in Hong Kong at the time working for an importer in the home improvement industry. I was responsible for all the company’s product development, sourcing, process and quality control, and some sales to the larger multinationals in the industry. We were always looking for alternative sources of supply, and I found myself in Vietnam that year. Americans were officially allowed to be in the country but were not supposed to transact any business yet. I was lucky to have someone there looking out for me, and everything worked quite well. It wasn’t the Vietnam of today, though. There were only a few hotels in Saigon, and they were pretty basic. You couldn’t use a credit card so you walked around with what seemed to be piles of cash (I realized quickly at the time that $20 worth of cash was more than I needed to do most things).

One of the experiences that impressed me the most came as I was traveling around in the countryside the day before I left. I had hired a driver, and he was driving an old Chrysler or Chevy that had obviously been left behind from the war. As we were out driving, the vehicle started experiencing some trouble. He then pulled over to take a look under the hood to see what was wrong. Of course I was very interested to see this, as this car had been running for almost 20 years with no spare parts available! I looked under the hood, and what I saw was what impressed me to this day. As I gazed under the hood I was shocked that the car was running at all. Different colors and types of hoses. Glass jars instead of fuel and other filters. It completely blew me away. These were the most resourceful people I had ever met.

I have found my Vietnamese friends to be very resourceful, kind, and with integrity.

Our Factory
The factory was amazing. They were shipping only to Europe, mostly Italy and England. As I walked through their showroom floor, they had many very traditional but unique designs. They were constantly working on new items and ideas. They were shipping about 800 containers per year to their customers. I walked through the factory and witnessed a very unique curing process, how they tracked the source of their lumber from log to furniture, the quality of the finish work that was evident, how everything was hand rubbed multiple times through the process with teak oil to help protect the surface of the wood, and more. I was in heaven!

I had spent years working with factories, mostly in China, to develop and ship many different products, but for various reasons had left that industry completely for a few years. It all came back to me in a rush as I witnessed this great factory producing beautiful products. That was a few years ago now. Every time I went to Vietnam after that I met up with my new friend who owned this beautiful factory, and we talked about how great their products are. In time as we got to know each other, he and his partners talked to me about being the exclusive distributor to North America for these same products. Of course I jumped at the chance, and here we are.

We are starting small but are growing well, as more and more customers see the uniqueness of our designs and the beauty of the wood. Most all of our furniture is from English and Italian designers for their own respective markets. Our designs are a mix of traditional and contemporary and some are a little in between. What further adds to the styling is the wood that is used.

Our Wood
Most all of our furniture (unless noted) is made from Keruing (pronounced like ‘canoeing’ but with an ‘r’ instead of an ‘n’). It is also referred to in the West as ‘Asian Mahogany’. Keruing is not a species of Mahogany, but looks like it could be with its tight grain and reddish color. The species itself is harder than oak or maple.

Keruing is a species well known in many parts of Southeast Asia as it is a common tree. It has been widely used for such things as piers and underwater pilings, marine grade wood (ship decks and boat construction), marine grade plywood, and more. It is also imported by some as a specialty wood for hardwood flooringand outside decking. It has not been used much for furniture until recently because factories could not remove the pitch inside the wood. Our factory has found a way to reliably remove the pitch and has been shipping their outdoor furniture to Europe (also very ‘green’ conscious) now for over 12 years. The result is uniquely designed and produced furniture made from a beautiful deep red hardwood with a tight grain.

All of our furniture comes hand rubbed with teak oil so it is ready to go as soon as it is assembled.

Our factory has been audited by TUV to ensure that they track the origin of all of their lumber (much is imported from the surrounding countries such as Malaysia, Borneo, Papua, and more), and that it is done in a responsible and sustainable manner.

We are also introducing other new lines of products in addition to our furniture. This will happen over time as we see opportunities for different products with our growing customers.

Our Mission

It is our mission to provide quality, design oriented products at a fair price. It is our priority to make doing business with us pleasant and simple. We will listen to our customers, and we will do our best to provide the best products that we are able.

We are new, we are fresh, and we want to stay that way.

I hope you enjoy our website and our catalogs. We stand by to be of assistance to you.

Best Regards,
 

Dan Worden
President/Founder