Modern African Furniture at the San Francisco Design Center

The San Francisco Design Center has a new addition: you guessed it, Contemporary African Home.Contemporary African Home's Studio Furniture: Essence Cocktail Table and Ultra Modern Sofa

Contemporary African Home's premium furniture and decor collection was recently picked up by Gaul Searson Ltd., a well-established designer showroom in the San Francisco Design Center.

This is a huge milestone for us as we establish our footprint as a premium line of goods from Sub-Saharan Africa. The SF Design Center is one of the premier design centers in the country, serving the interior design industry and bringing forth cutting edge concepts in green living and globally inspired design. We at CAH are constantly working to bring our products buyers and consumers in the luxury furniture space while distinguishing the CAH line as a sustainable, luxury line of furniture made by Africa's best Artisans.

Visit CAH at the SF Design Center: Gaul Searson Ltd. Showplace #300, 305, Two Henry Adams, San Francisco, CA

Off-topic: why I discourage use of a broker in startup funding

I know this is completely off topic of design but its related to funding a startup, so I thought I'd share.

In tough economic times, when so many small business owners seek additional funding, there's often the temptation to engage funding groups or brokers to apply for small business grants on our behalf.

One of my consulting clients was recently approached by Las Vegas Funding Group. For a fee of $3,000, these brokers offer services related to "assisting and aiding clients to identify and apply for small business grants." I can just imagine these guys working out of a trailer in the middle of the desert and driving away when things get hairy. But I digress....

Here's a quick summary, (besides the aforementioned trailer desert scene), why this can be a bad idea.

• In addition to charging the small business an up-front processing fees ($1,500 - $3,000), these brokers also charge the Foundation or Governmental agency a broker fee of 3% to 5% of the grant amount!
• Although the fee is not a direct expense to the small business, the cost comes in the now very small pool of Foundations that the small business can approach. Why? Most Foundations will not work with brokers.
  

• With fee-based broker assisted applicants, money leaves the Foundation and a sizable portion doesn't reach the target beneficiary. Keep in mind that Foundations need to justify grant allocations and total costs related to recipients.

• Example: Startup X requests and receives a grant for $50,000: in addition to the flat up front processing fee paid by Startup X, the brokers also also earn 3-5% of the grant. The greater the grant, the greater the broker's fee. e.g. a $500,000 grant garners a fee of $15,000 to $25,000!!!!
• At a time when foundations have lost so much of their portfolio value and are at the same time faced with increased demand for grants, the pay-out of sizable brokers fees or commissions doesn't make economic sense.
  

• Government grants specifically prohibit the build-in of a finders fee or brokers commission as part of grant applications.
• Last and VERY Important, grant funding brokers require clients to sign a "non-circumvent agreement." This agreement prohibits clients from independently seeking grants from other sources during the contract period (usually 12 months). Buyers Beware!!!
  
  

Check into these alternatives for grant writing and funding assistance:

1. Your local SBA office has tons of resources
   
2. Organizations like Skoll Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation invest in social ventures as well as provide references for other funding sources
3. Grant writers/consultants will work for an hourly fee or a flat cost per grant (no hidden fees)
   
4. Try connecting other small business owners who have been successful in the grant-writing process.

Christies Interiors - Art of living

Good information from some the best specialists in all things collectible, design, art, etc.

For over a century the auction houses Christies and Sotheby's (my alma mater) have been synonymous with good collections and having tons of information on everything luxury. The catch is you need to pay for it - at minimum you had to buy the catalogs. However, over the last few years, Christies developed an incredible website full of information that was previously reserved for paying customers. My friend Kristen De Bruyn and her team are constantly adding more umph to the site and recently added Christie's on the Go for us "busy" folks who only have time for social media. Go Christie's!! Go Kristen!!!

What is African Furniture?

Very African Chair in solid laminated Wenge by Contemporary African Home

Over the last two years, I've been challenged with questions regarding the definition of "African furniture" and the place of African goods in the global marketplace.

In one very telling exchange, the owner of a well-established African Art Gallery insisted that products from the Contemporary African Home line would have a better chance of success if we didn't tell anyone that the furniture is African because, "it just doesn't Look African."

Yes, yes, I was as perplexed and offended. However I didn't want to unleash my New York/New Jersey attitude out all over this woman (who, btw, is a black Kenyan). So in response, I asked, "What do African Products look like?" Her reply told me what, in her mind, African products DON'T look like: "Your furniture is modern, the lines are clean, it is well made," etc., "no one is
going to believe that this was made in Africa." She went on... "just call it Contemporary Furniture."

Contemporary African Home's very modern Showcase Sofa with Mosaic Ribbon Arms

As absurd as it sounds, I'm thankful for that conversation because it reminds me a) of the need to speak on the long-standing history of fine craftsmanship found in so many regions in Sub-Saharan Africa and b) of the need to break away from the narrow definitions of "African goods." The expected examples being either unprocessed raw materials or ceremonial art and tchotchke which fall into a 3 buckets: 1) the originals with provenance and acquisition issues attached, 2) the well made replica which may or may not be presented as an original, and 3) the made-in-china mass produced item that you can buy in TJMaxx for under $20.

To those of you who'd expect that African products be broadly defined and reflective of the diversity of people, resources, and talent found throughout the continent, I agree with you! However, I've learned that the proliferation of this idea will come after a whole lot of targeted product branding efforts and the increased footprint of the wide array of African products in the global marketplace. Only then will we see a mind shift on "what is African."

I hope this shift comes with a greater demand for quality, value-added goods from Sub-Saharan Africa and that those goods support the continent's talented entrepreneurs.

Let's move away from Planned Obsolescence

Here's my idea: let us minimize waste of resources in furniture creation and see more cost savings over the long term.

How? Move away from products created in the space of planned obsolescence.

Planned Obsolescence is the opposite of long-lived products and usually:
• Includes product made to fail within a specified (short) period of time. Think of Furniture that you buy knowing that it will fall apart in less than 3 years.
• The manufacturer has used inferior quality components which drives product failure, and in turn, the consumer to repurchase or replace said product within a short period (3-5 years).
• This is an "OK" model with rapidly changing technology. However, with certain goods like furniture and home décor, it’s downright misleading, because the real costs related to the product are hidden.

Example: The cheaply made $500 table may be a fraction of the cost of its a well-made, more expensive counterpart.

However, think about replacing that $500 table every seven years (if you’re lucky). When you add up the ten purchases of "that table" over the average 70 year lifetime, the total cost of having the inferior table is $5000!

That doesn't include the cost of shipping, handling, tax, financing charges, disposal, shopping time, etc.

On the other hand, think about buying furniture that lasts a lifetime and as a result, can be passed on to your kids or grand kids, gifted, resold, etc., AND INCREASES IN VALUE OVER TIME!

Above: Contemporary African Home side table in solid laminated wenge.

I always think about my Trinidadian grandparents who were very humble people with very little money. But oh boy did my grandmother love her depression glass collection and her solid antique Victorian high boy. She and my grandfather (innocent bystander) bought those items from their savings when they were newly married. Those pieces are still holding strong in my dad's home nearly 70 years later.

Green Side of Luxury Furniture. Cont'd

Previously, I posted my top-of-mind criteria when it comes to purchasing furniture and the green side of luxury furniture.

Not only should we think about 1) the efficient use of (scarce) materials, but also 2) how much product is created. Do you ever get that sick to your stomach feel when you walk into a shopping center and there is just so much stuff? Custom orders are very good for the environment. We're less likely to make an impulse purchase and less likely to quickly dispose of it, if we take the time to think about what we're ordering.

Some additional criteria for evaluating the Greenness of Luxury Furniture:

3) The Product Longevity of Luxury Furniture. We should seek out products constructed to last more than 2 human lifetimes. That's not so hard, in principle. However, longevity also means the product should be:

• Designed to serve its purpose. Is it functional as well as beautiful?
  

• Aesthetically pleasing over a very long timeline and in different cultural contexts. There are many examples in French, Italian Renaissance, mid-century furniture (which has now made a revival), and African Furniture (such as traditional stools and hand-carved doors) which last for centuries and increase in value over time.
  

Side note: If a product has a shorter life span, then the materials MUST be easily biodegradable and the financial and environmental costs related to acquisition and disposal should be minimal.

And last but not least, I come to my fourth criteria...

4) Price - Is the product price supported by the quality and longevity? The answer should be a definitive YES!

• The expected life expectancy of a product should be positively correlated to its price. (sorry throwback to my finance days).
• Products made to last beyond one’s lifetime will inevitably have a higher price to cover the costs of superior production, material, and design.

A shorter life should be positively tied to a lower price. However, lower price doesn't mean lower cost to the consumer over a long period.
Look for my forthcoming note on planned obsolescence.

The Green Side of Luxury Furniture

In the space of Luxury Home furnishings, I believe that we must offer consumers well designed, long-lasting products that make extremely efficient use of (scarce) materials.

In honor of the official Earth Day, Joe Gaul of GaulSearson asked me to share some thoughts on the Luxury Side of Green. Here are some of what we'll discuss at GaulSearson's showroom in the SF Design center later today. I'll be adding to this series, including responses to our discussion, over the next few days.

The original question was: What is the Luxury side of Green? I think the better question is: What is the Green Side of Luxury? Why does the commitment to superior quality, long-lasting furniture and home decor mean a greener planet?

My response was to develop some criteria for Luxurious & Green Furniture:

1. Use of material - look for the efficient use of scarce material: Veneers, laminated or engineered woods, and other materials which are made to biodegrade with minimal impact to the environment AND minimal likelihood of product failure.

2. Building for demand, aka custom, is oh so green because manufacturers and craftsmen who offer this service don't produce in excess of consumer demand or what the market can sustain.

There is a clear distinction between building for demand and what has become the common trend of flooding the market with product with the purpose of driving down prices. Think volume discounts and dumping practices of some manufacturers.

The questions we should pose in the face of excess supply (even though it's cheap) include:

• What is the source of the resource?
• Is this level of production sustainable?
• What about shipping, disposal, excess waste? What are the long term costs of manufacturing, shipping, storing, and disposing of all that stuff, over and over and over.

Which brings me to my next criteria...Product Longevity and Price. Please See next post.