Someone watched over us!

I have been very reflective lately. It may have something to do with the time of year and the change of seasons. The fall is when my mom got sick and passed away from cancer. It will be two years this coming January. But it was Fall, when she started to really get get sick and the holidays took on new meaning for me. Since her passing I have tried hard to make holidays be more that just the presents, but a true family celebration. My family is located in Washington state and I am in California, so every time I go up to visit, I want to make sure we all spend time together as a family. Life can get so tangled with deadlines and paperwork that I need to stop and take time to make an effort for all of us to be together and listen to each other and celebrate our successes and differences. (I wont go into how weird my younger brothers are!) But I do love them and the fantastic, interesting, and fascinating families they have created for themselves. I am very guilty of getting caught up in the day to day operations of Cypress and forgetting about calling home to check on everyone. We are very excited to soon be welcoming twins to the family. I cant wait to see them and meet them when I go to Seattle for Christmas. But as all of this approaches, I need to stop and reflect on how fortunate I am and Cypress furniture is. We are survivors of an economical crisis that my generation has never imagined or lived through. I think this is the new business climate. Everyone seems to waiting for it to go back to how it was, I think this is how it is going to be. I think people are actually going to make purchases when they really need it, and when they can afford it . But my point is, we are thankful for somebody up there looking out over us! Thanks Mom! We needed you to keep an eye on us and we appreciate it. Thanks for taking care of us this last year.

Integrity and quality

I recently had a meeting with a designer whom we have built quite a bit of furniture for, over the years. She was having a difficult time on a project and wanted to discuss options on pricing with me. She is working on a large project, and the "decorating" committee consists of several women involved with the project. The problem is that the committee has placed their priority on price. They are not at all interested in the differences between my furniture and furniture they have gone online and found.
Of course they have found furniture that is made for about 1/4 the price of mine. Now we all know that in order for furniture to be that cheap, it has to be of a much lower quality. Here is where we get into sticky territory. How does the designer educate her clients without insulting them. They are not experienced in purchasing quality furniture for commercial use. They are looking at the cheapest price. How do you tell them that they will be replacing broken furniture and will eventually end up paying more per item in the long run, that purchasing quality built furniture the first time. The designer wanted to know if I would build a cheaper version of the type of furniture we currently build. My answer was an emphatic "NO". I feel like it is almost a bait and switch scheme. People buy my furniture because it is expertly constructed and very reasonable. (OK, I know that not everyone can afford my furniture, but if you are willing to save and wait till you can afford it, then you are spending your money the on quality furniture. It has a great value and is the better choice.)
I feel or rather I hope that this whole economic turbulence is teaching or reminding us on what it means to save up and buy the best quality we can afford. It is the art of spending wisely and not frivolously. That is true value!
The other point about shopping online, is the effect it has on the Mom and Pop furniture stores. They are rapidly becoming a dying breed. How can you buy furniture online? You don't know how it feels, sits actually looks. And the most important part is how it is made. There is nothing like picking up a piece of furniture and feeling its weight, feeling if it is solid. Are we just too lazy to drive to a store? Have we really missed the lessons of making quality, valued buying decisions? And why are we so slow in learning the lessons, again! I was raised to take care of my things and to value them. We need to be smart consumers and buy quality, made in USA products!

The Power of the internet

Lately, I have been reading a lot about social media and how you can use it in business. I have been very reluctant to embrace this trend in business. To me, furniture is a consumer good which needs to be touched and felt, sat in and sat on. So, using the Internet to sell a product like furniture just didn't make sense to me. Until the other, when I received a phone call from a consumer who has one of our old "Umphred's" collection of sofa's. Guess how she found Cypress....the Internet. She searched Umphreds and found my blog, describing how Cypress was now the old Umphreds. This is even more of a lesson to learn, because we love to reupholster our old furniture, because it proves our point, that we build furniture which is made to last and built to be reupholstered. So the prospect of losing an opportunity to reupholster one of our old frames because someone could not find us, is a clear message to embrace the Internet and furniture! But, don't get the wrong idea...I don't think I will be building a sofa with a built-in lap top in the arm!
Thanks again!
Jim

Hello, again, my friends!

So much for getting better at increasing my blog frequency rate! Ok, so I have been busy lately. Yes, busy! Can you believe that the furniture industry is actually finally beginning to pick up! We have been bust building furniture for some of our commercial accounts. I always feel a little weird about giving out clients names, so I will just call them commercial accounts. Who cares what I call them, I am just happy they have been placing orders!
The residential designers order's have only recently begun to pick up. It has been really tough out there for interior designers. I don't think the design industry has done much to help consumer understand the value of a good designer. A well qualified designer can help a consumer save money by picking the right quality pieces for their lifestyle. A designer can sift through the multitudes of product offerings and find what is the best quality and value for your budget, lifestyle and needs.
Work with a designer and buy local!

Long time no blog

Hello Everyone,
Sorry for the blog downtime...got overwhelmed with work and needed sleep more than blogging. Well it has been a long year in the furniture mfg biz, but it seems like slowly but surely things a heading upward. Got some great projects we are working on. I will try to snap a couple of pics to give you some idea of what's new in the world of custom high-end upholstery.
Be well and be good to each other!
Jim