Young furniture maker trailblazes in trendy office designs
BOLIVIAN MAINA, 27 is the managing director of Dilusso Furniture and Designs Limited that offers all-rounded workplace furnishings from reception tables, office workstations, chairs and plans and partitioning.
Adalla Allan @adalla_allan
You are among few young Kenyan entrepreneurs that have ventured into the furniture business. What inspired this idea?
Office luxury has always been something I have loved. When I used to be an employee, I loved seeing the office being set up in an executive manner.
However, I realised that for one to have such high-end offices, they had to have deep pockets.
So, I founded Dilusso Furniture and Designs Limited to fill that gap by offering luxurious, but affordable furniture.
I have been in the furniture industry for almost eight years and at the moment I have 12 employees both in the workshop and at our offices, which are located along Enterprise Road, in Nairobi.
How do you keep yourself updated on the latest office furniture designs?
Through exposure from different exhibitions I attend in the Middle East and Asian countries.
They are the best when it comes to interior décor and furniture. I am among very few Kenyans in this industry at the moment; most dealers are foreign investors from Asia and the Middle East.
I also spend time on YouTube and Google for ideas on how to improve my craft.
What do you think makes you stand out from your competitors?
We offer luxury and affordable furniture that is custom-built. We allow our clients to experience our designs, and also let them come to us with an idea and we can use their vision to create pieces they want.
We don’t leave clients with the limited option purchasing ready-made or available furniture.
Our imported wood is also of good quality. We use maple, mahogany, oak, cherry woods, among others.
How has business in your sector been impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic?
The furniture business has been favoured. The bold ones were able to adapt and create furniture packages for working from home.
We came up with affordable packages and furniture pieces that are suitable for home working stations.
We also offered free delivery services for our clients and further offered advice on how to arrange the furniture in their homes. This won our clients’ hearts and enabled our company to stay afloat.
What has been your secret behind your success in this business?
Innovation. Applying latest technology in any work separates the chaff from the real products.
Our company has already put measures in place to ensure the production of innovative products, such as use of boards that we import from Malaysia and China.
We don’t use timber or any local material, because timber business is highly regulated by the government, making it difficult to do business, so we focus on coming up with what is reliable. They are also lighter, which makes them portable.
What is the latest trend in the furniture industry?
Back to office workstations, which can comfortably offer social distance at the work place, while utilising the available space.
Health and safety were the top motives for sending employees to work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
And health and safety will be the driving factors for employees’ eventual return to the office. Workstation areas no longer have the crowded café feel, rather they have adapted to social distancing.
