By Ong Bi Hui
Office furniture is mostly functional rather than flashy in design, but two Singapore entrepreneurs are determined to add a touch of class to the workplace.
Mr Gavin Woo and Ms Katrina Tan are former colleagues who decided in 1997 to venture out on their own.
They used a modest $50,000 of their own money to set up Office Planner, a company that distributes designer furniture for the masses, with a focus on supplying inspiring designs for offices.
Just over a decade later, they are well and truly in the global league. They recently signed a deal to be the sole furniture distributor in Asia for leading French designer Philippe Starck.
Mr Woo and Ms Tan got to know each other when they worked together in the sales department of Corten Furniture. 'When we were at Corten's sales department, we were more or less solving most of the problems there using our own devices, so we figured that we might as well run a business ourselves,' said Ms Tan, a former stewardess with Japan Airlines.
Singapore-based Office Planner started with only four workers in 1997. Today, it has grown into a 70-man operation and has franchises in Australia and South Korea, with one more slated to open in Malaysia by October.
The company's annual revenue has soared to more than $10 million, a tenfold increase from its first year of operations.
Apart from distributing furniture from renowned brands such as Philippe Starck, the company also works with European designers to come up with its own line of office and home furnishings, some of which will be manufactured at its Sungei Kadut factory.
Ms Tan said the duo managed to break even in the first year of operations, which she added was 'no mean feat'.
'We had to survive without salaries for six months.'
While the 'bread-and-butter' income of the company comes from its line of office furniture called Mobilink, other lines are also selling like hot cakes. The most notable is Philippe Starck's xO series - home furnishings with the signature Starck look but at mass-market prices.
The duo had direct dealings with Mr Starck, including a trip they made to Milan to express their interest.
Mr Woo joked that Mr Starck 'speaks very little English - or so he led us to believe'.
But they almost missed the opportunity to clinch the deal.
'When his representatives came to Singapore to find an Asian partner, we were doing a job for the Singapore Embassy in the Philippines, ' Mr Woo said. 'By the time we rushed back, we had to meet Mr Starck's representatives at 11.30pm because they had to fly back the next day.'
Eventually, Mr Starck picked them as he felt that they were 'passionate about the business and not about the dollars and cents'. However, this was only after they personally flew over to Milan to express their interest in the deal.
Office Planner has also just launched a new line of colourful office furnishings called Itaca, and has been collaborating with Philippe Starck since last year on a series of office furnishings to be launched soon.
Despite their success, a niggling concern remains over whether office furniture will continue to be a neglected aspect of the furnishings market.
'At least 90 per cent of furniture design graduates end up doing home furnishing designs,' said Mr Woo.
Though the company currently works mainly with European designers for its collections, the duo hope they can one day hire design students as in-house designers, for that truly uniquely Singapore design that combines the best of East and West.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on 2 July 2008.
Office furniture is mostly functional rather than flashy in design, but two Singapore entrepreneurs are determined to add a touch of class to the workplace.
Mr Gavin Woo and Ms Katrina Tan are former colleagues who decided in 1997 to venture out on their own.
They used a modest $50,000 of their own money to set up Office Planner, a company that distributes designer furniture for the masses, with a focus on supplying inspiring designs for offices.
Just over a decade later, they are well and truly in the global league. They recently signed a deal to be the sole furniture distributor in Asia for leading French designer Philippe Starck.
Mr Woo and Ms Tan got to know each other when they worked together in the sales department of Corten Furniture. 'When we were at Corten's sales department, we were more or less solving most of the problems there using our own devices, so we figured that we might as well run a business ourselves,' said Ms Tan, a former stewardess with Japan Airlines.
Singapore-based Office Planner started with only four workers in 1997. Today, it has grown into a 70-man operation and has franchises in Australia and South Korea, with one more slated to open in Malaysia by October.
The company's annual revenue has soared to more than $10 million, a tenfold increase from its first year of operations.
Apart from distributing furniture from renowned brands such as Philippe Starck, the company also works with European designers to come up with its own line of office and home furnishings, some of which will be manufactured at its Sungei Kadut factory.
Ms Tan said the duo managed to break even in the first year of operations, which she added was 'no mean feat'.
'We had to survive without salaries for six months.'
While the 'bread-and-butter' income of the company comes from its line of office furniture called Mobilink, other lines are also selling like hot cakes. The most notable is Philippe Starck's xO series - home furnishings with the signature Starck look but at mass-market prices.
The duo had direct dealings with Mr Starck, including a trip they made to Milan to express their interest.
Mr Woo joked that Mr Starck 'speaks very little English - or so he led us to believe'.
But they almost missed the opportunity to clinch the deal.
'When his representatives came to Singapore to find an Asian partner, we were doing a job for the Singapore Embassy in the Philippines, ' Mr Woo said. 'By the time we rushed back, we had to meet Mr Starck's representatives at 11.30pm because they had to fly back the next day.'
Eventually, Mr Starck picked them as he felt that they were 'passionate about the business and not about the dollars and cents'. However, this was only after they personally flew over to Milan to express their interest in the deal.
Office Planner has also just launched a new line of colourful office furnishings called Itaca, and has been collaborating with Philippe Starck since last year on a series of office furnishings to be launched soon.
Despite their success, a niggling concern remains over whether office furniture will continue to be a neglected aspect of the furnishings market.
'At least 90 per cent of furniture design graduates end up doing home furnishing designs,' said Mr Woo.
Though the company currently works mainly with European designers for its collections, the duo hope they can one day hire design students as in-house designers, for that truly uniquely Singapore design that combines the best of East and West.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on 2 July 2008.
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