Furniture market: Back to classic design

Sudibyo M. Wiradji, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The growing use of European classic styles in the country's exclusive housing estates has helped bring about a revival of classic furniture designs in Indonesia.

Classic furniture, either imported or locally made, has become hot in many large furnitures stores in Jakarta and other cities.

"The growing use of classic designs in new exclusive housing estates has resulted in an increase in demand for classic furniture sets," said Erwin Hubertus Hawawinata, marketing manager of Da Vinci Indonesia, a retailer of branded classic and modern furniture in the capital.

Many exclusive residential housing estates in Jakarta use European classic styles in their exterior and interior designs. Such housing complexes can be found in Pondok Indah and Kemang, or in the growing residential areas in Tangerang such as Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) and Lippo Karawaci.

Indonesian Furniture Club chairman Yos Theo Subrata said demand for high-end classic furniture had been on the increase over the last three years.

"The market share of branded classic furniture is less than 2 percent. But in terms of market value, it is quite significant thanks to their high prices," he said.

Erwin said well-to-do families hunting for high-end classic furniture also included families living in apartments. Many people also furnish their offices with classic collections.

"Classic furniture pieces like sofa sets are used by business circles as one of the means of building trust with their partners or clients, as the items are expected to provide an image of dignity, elegance, grandness and luxury that can enhance the owners' social status, " he said.

In addition to style, quality and materials, price is also the main reason many furniture lovers have turned to classic furniture sets.

The price of a branded piece of classic furniture is comparable to imported minimalist furniture pieces.

Prices of classic sofas imported from Italy, Spain, the UK or the Unites States, for example, range between Rp 30 million and Rp 80 million.

One of the outstanding characteristics of classic furniture is that their models and designs refer to furniture items produced in the classic era, such as in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Classic furniture also has rich carvings and ornaments, and many pieces use eye-catching colors such as gold and silver.

The colors of classic furniture vary. Many pieces show the color of the original wood, polished to have a natural look, with the wood's veins remaining clearly visible. While other pieces are painted different colors to cover the veins.

Unlike modern or minimalist furniture items that have simple shapes, with motifs that make use of symmetric lines such as stripes, cube and circles, classic items often use pictures of flowers or vegetables as the motifs for their covers.

The growing trend toward furnishing homes with classic furniture has prompted tighter competition in this particular segment of the furniture market.

To attract buyers, major furniture shops not only offer discounts, but also a free consulting service. Da Vinci, for example, recently held a seminar on feng shui for its customers.

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese philosophy widely used in deciding the location, construction and architectural features of buildings, the placement and style of furniture, colors and decorating schemes, and the location of plants, paths and other outside features.

By creating a more pleasing atmosphere, feng shui has been credited with improving family communication, restoring employee cooperation and increasing a store's sales.

Erwin said that the company's design team also provided advice in helping customers find the right designs for their homes.

The design team's tasks also include explaining the history of pieces, as each furniture collection takes the name of famous people from history, such as the Louis XIV collection and the Humphrey Bogart collection.

In addition to Da Vinci, there are several other furniture shops that sell classic furniture sets. Malinda Furniture Gallery, Casabella and DC Interior House are among the big names in the business.

Malinda Furniture Gallery, with its three showrooms in the Jakarta Design Center, sells Flexsteel, Magnussen and Schnadig classic furniture items from the United States, including reclining seats and sofas for home theaters, dining table sets, cabinets and bedroom sets.

Most of the imported furniture sets sold by the Gallery have been adjusted to the tastes of Indonesian customers, both in terms of motifs and color.

"If the motifs and color they want are different from those available in the showroom, they have to wait for between three or four months to get the items because they are produced in the U.S.," Vidia, marketing manager for the Gallery, said.

Locally made classic furniture is also popular among Indonesians and expatriates who have a passion for classic collections but who are on a budget.

Even though the products use high quality woods, such as dried teak, the prices for the items are relatively cheap compared to branded classic furniture. The price range for wooden sofa sets, for instance, is from Rp 6 million to Rp 20 million.

"The older the furniture items, the more expensive they are. But in general they cost less than foreign branded items," said Carolina, a marketing staff member at DC Inter House, a furniture retailer specializing in locally made furniture.

She said consumers enjoyed classic wooden furniture items because they created calm and serene atmosphere that was good for relaxation. "Besides, the resale price for classic or ethnic items is high," she added.