Mahogany Masterpieces – where traditional values and craftsmanship meet contemporary elegance
to create exquisite works of art, is a premium furniture manufacturer with nearly half a century of
experience.
Talking to Business Management Digest, the company’s Managing Director, Kishan Gooneratne,
recounts the story of Mahogany Masterpieces which began with a button! The rather unusual barrel –
shaped button was expertly crafted for an iconic Sri Lankan fashion brand, he says.
Tracing the company’s beginnings, Gooneratne says his father Sumith had acquired a set of
woodworking tools from UK with the intention of entering Sri Lanka’s wooden furniture industry.
His opportunity arrived in the form of an extremely enterprising woman, now a legendary personality,
Mrs. Barbara Sansoni, the founder of the handcrafted fabric and fashion brand Barefoot. His first
order for Barefoot was to make this barrel shaped button for her products.
When valiant attempts to get the buttons crafted by the famed Moratuwa woodcraftsmen totally
failed, Sumith Gooneratne made the 1000 buttons himself with the tools he had brought from the UK.
Determination, skills and courage did the rest for Sumith Gooneratne to build his business to what it
is today – Mahogany Masterpieces.
Excerpts from the interview:
How was the company established and given the name Mahogany Masterpieces?
Well, the company was started in the early 1970s by my father who produced handicrafts for Lakpahana,
Barefoot, etc. In the early 80s, he expanded into household furniture for export to Europe. Subsequently
we entered the local market for household furniture. However, the name did not represent what we actually did.
Actually the name, Craft Supplies as it was known earlier, was suitable at the beginning as we were
producing handicraft. Until this year, the company name was Craft Supplies and Mahogany Masterpieces was our brand name.
We went through a transformation and now it’s Mahogany Masterpieces.
We specialize in household furniture with contemporary features of high quality.
We are also looking at marketing our products to UK as Mahogany Masterpieces, a far more appropriate brand name for UK market.
When did you start exporting to UK?
We first started exporting to UK in the early 80s. We had a Scottish furniture expert, who trained our carpenters and set the benchmark for us. Even today, we follow a lot of those principles.
What is your competitive edge in this highly competitive furniture industry?
Our priority throughout our business has been the customer and customer satisfaction is our bottom
line. We have not wavered with quality, we have not compromised with raw materials, even though there are challenges with increasing costs and sourcing skilled labour. We also do not rush to complete orders, if we do not have quality raw materials and skills to do so. Our clientele also understands that and we have built that trust with them through maintaining a high quality throughout
the last 40 years.
A common feature in this industry is that many start-ups don’t survive too long because they compromise on quality.
How do you maintain your market share?
Demand for high end furniture has been increasing steadily. With the launch of our new store, we managed to attract a new, mature clientele.
The high end, mature and knowledgeable market look for values beyond functionality and aesthetics in their choice of furniture. This market also values and appreciates the wood and its grain, the craftsmanship, and also prefer furniture that lasts for generations.
What are the strengths and weaknesses you see in this industry?
Currently the construction industry is experiencing a boom and the increase in demand is healthy for new businesses.
We also have a history of good carpentry with good skills in this country. That is a consistent strength we have which matches international standards.
However on the downside, our industry is threatened by imports and a shortage of skilled craftsmen to meet local demand. This industry’s future is threatened by the dearth of new skill. It is very hard to hire carpenters, polishers, machine workers, etc. It’s a shame because carpentry and craftsmanship are inherent in our people.
Another challenge is sourcing quality raw materials. Our industry is solely dependent on natural raw materials like timber and sourcing quality timber is the real challenge. While timber is available, the maturity of the tree is important for furniture manufacture. Suppliers cut young trees disregarding their maturity as demand for timber like mahogany spirals with the current high demand for furniture. With all these issues, we stick to our policy of using quality timber for our products. That’s also a challenge although we are looking at alternate sources like importing timber.
We are also conducting a plant initiative where we are introducing 10,000 tea plants in the eco system in Sri Lanka as one of our CSR projects. So hopefully with those initiatives, we can sustain this industry.
Who are the investors in Mahogany Masterpieces?
My father started this business and his four brothers also helped him to run it. At present, out of the five people who started the company, four have retired. As such there’s one uncle, who is one of the most knowledgeable people on furniture manufacturing in this country. He is an expert with a vast a knowledge. He runs the manufacturing arm and I head the overall business.
What is your strategy in sourcing and retaining labour?
Actually, finding skilled workers is very difficult. Our strategy is to hire young guys with a passion for the job and develop them through in-house training. In this industry it is difficult to see the earning potential for carpenters. Today, a good carpenter can earn approximately about Rs. 100,000 a month. But they have to develop their skills and be dedicated to their institution.
As such, hiring an unskilled worker and developing them into a trained/skilled worker and guaranteeing their survival in the industry is a challenge. Another challenge is retaining craftsmen long enough to develop their skills. Today people are looking at short term earnings and many drive three-wheelers to earn in the short term. If you spend a few years to develop your craft, you earn much more money. Today, three-wheelers have become a big problem for the labour force.
Nearly half a century in a rapidly changing, demanding industry that caters to many households itself is an achievement. What’s your advice to startups?
Well, firstly, there are no short-term returns. This is a longterm commitment, because you need to stand by the product that you deliver. This is one major stumbling block for a lot of newcomers. When people get into business for short term returns, because of the boom in the construction industry, the
quality of skilled craftsmanship, raw materials etc. will be compromised to meet the demand and with fast supply.
What really happens down the line is that those products will start to have problems and you are stuck with one of two choices. One: You repair the problems that occur, which does not give you enough capacity to make new products, or you ignore the problems that occur and focus on new products.
Either way, you ruin your reputation. I see this situation with many players, even large companies that have divested and started investing in the furniture industry. They don’t realise that furniture is a long-term commitment.
Also, we have a separate sister company called the Furniture Spa, where we do furniture after-care like shampoo cleaning, re-upholstery, re-polishing, etc. So, we are able to give a very long-term service to our clients. So, if you are not able to look after the furniture even after delivery, then you cannot sustain your business for a long period.
How to you retain your market share inthis demanding industry and what is your strategy for market expansion?
We have been in this sector for almost half a decade. We have a good reputation and a clientele. Some have been purchasing furniture from us for generations. Some clients who bought furniture from us for their weddings have returned to buy our furniture for their children’s weddings.
I would say that about 80 per cent of our business comes from word-of-mouth or repeat customers. So,
recommendations go a long-long way.
However, in the recent past, there has been a considerable increase in the demand for our products.
We are now offering a much wider range of services which include total interior solutions, from carpeting, lighting, wallpapers, line and curtaining, we offer total turn-key solutions.
Now we have established ourselves with an entirely new exclusive clientele for such turnkey operations, in addition to our long term, loyal customers.
Do you import goods for your business?
Not at the moment. At present we are negotiating with a few suppliers. They are not as price competitive as we need them to be. But we are getting there. They are looking at new avenues on how they can reduce their cost. We are also talking to the government to see if they can give some relief to import timber so that we can make it more cost effective to the local sector. We also want to safeguard our rainforests, increase the growth of trees in Sri Lanka. One was the initiative we already mentioned. The second initiative is to import timber.
What is the timber most used for this industry?
Mahogany and it’s our primary raw material. We are also using timber like Teak, Nadun and Satin Wood, but that is mostly for inlays and smaller panels.
How did you enter this sector?
I was living and working in the United Kingdom before I took over the Mahogany Masterpieces in 2004. I was in UK for about four years. I did my O/Levels and A/Levels in Sri Lanka. I was in Royal College and Stafford College. Thereafter, I wanted to get foreign exposure.
In 2003, my father was planning to retire. I came back to Sri Lanka to look at business options, not really expecting to take over my father’s business. I did start running the business for him and I saw the huge potential, because as far as the company is concerned, my father had built a solid foundation, a very good product and highly skilled work force.
I think what was lacking at that time was the marketing aspect. I was able to contribute by developing the marketing and branding aspect of the business.