By Jagdish Hathiramani
The founder |
|
For any native of Colombo, the name Don Carolis & Sons has always been synonymous with furniture. One might say that the company is almost always the first choice for meeting one's household furniture needs. In fact, so nostalgic is the feeling when visiting the company's warehouse at Vauxhall Street that visitors are almost transformed to a more innocent time when life was slower and social networking was done face-to-face rather than on the Internet.
Although the warehouse location is only a few years old with most products being brand new, there are some pieces, peppered amongst the new furniture for sale, which exude a distinct feeling of history... one such cabinet, identified by staff as 75 years old, made from Jak tree timber in a colonial style, was almost brand new in appearance, a testament to the quality of its construction.
Perhaps the most poignant reminder of Don Carolis & Sons’ 148 year pedigree is a table sitting unobtrusively in the office of the company's Chairman / Managing Director, Rajiv Hewavitarne. This antique, a ‘variated’ top table featuring all conceivable types of timber from a Ceylon long past, including a few timber varieties that cannot even be named today, is his all-time favourite. Why? Because it is over 120 years old.
The table seems to symbolise the lifetime of lessons Mr. Hewavitarne learnt from his distinguished family: "One thing I always say - quality and functionality are the most important things, even though style is what attracts customers." In fact, he remembers learning from some of the company's longest serving employees about the need for furniture to be built to last because that is the lesson they had learned from his ancestors. Being ‘built to last’ appears to be more than even a credo; it may even be a way of life: Many of its over 300 employees have stayed with the company for a number of years; over 100 have been there for 10 years, more than 75 have been there for 25 years, and a number have even spent 35 years in the company’s employ.
Although the company's heritage appears to be in-built into Mr. Hewavitarne’s way of thinking, no one can doubt that his eyes are firmly on future horizons. Says Mr. Hewavitarne: "We are moving into India in a big way". This is particularly true with regards to the Don Carolis & Sons' efforts to supply hotels - a growing market. The company plans to cash in on an ongoing boom in hotel rooms in India, where 5,000 rooms are expected to come up in Hyderabad and Bangalore as part of an overall 10,000 rooms surge expected all across South India. He further notes that the company is in an ideal position to capitalise on this development as they have already worked with a number of boutique and 5 star hotels, building a strong reputation. He is especially proud of the company's work for the Taj and Hilton chains in Sri Lanka, saying "we are confident of the job we did for them". He adds that Don Carolis & Sons is currently in discussions with big hotel chains in India as well as a number of 4 and 5 star hotels for further projects of this type.
The workshop |
|
Meanwhile, furniture and office retail sales in India are other segments performing well for the company which is expanding rapidly into India with several stand-alone stores and a number of already well established Indian partners: "We currently have showrooms in Chennai, Coimbatore and Bangalore and we expect to have new showrooms open in Hyderabad, Cochin and Mumbai soon," says Mr. Hewavitarne.
In fact, contrary to what’s been happening in the world, Don Carolis & Sons has yet to experience significant signs of the dreaded economic downturn, with the company just having realised 20% year-on-year real growth while also continuing to enjoy over 50% market share in Sri Lanka's household furniture market. Meanwhile, exports to India by the end of the company's financial year are estimated to be 75 containers. Although there has been a slight drop in sales in India, the opposite has been surprisingly true for Sri Lanka, according to Mr. Hewavitarne. Locally there has been 20% growth compared to the same sales period last year.
The company's only major issue to date is too much demand. "We are currently restricted by production facilities available in our 148 year-old Slave Island factory. We have built a new factory, a new facility of 100,000 square feet which is twice the size of the existing production space and we will move in by January", says Mr. Hewavitarne. Although the new factory has been ready for two months already, they took the decision to build up inventories before the move so there would be no loss of production and customers would not be disappointed while they scale up to new peak production capacities.
Don Carolis & Sons was started in 1860 by founder Mudaliyar Don Carolis Hewavitarne. At that time, the business was originally all about tea and rubber plantations. When Don Carolis realised that there was a need for colonial style furniture for expatriates, as all furniture was at the time imported from abroad with shipping times of six months by steamboat, he moved quickly to capture this market. In 1860, the first showroom was opened in Keyser Street. By 1907 the first small showroom had expanded to a 3-acre department store selling everything needed by the household, from crockery, cutlery, carpets, Rattan-ware to even bicycles. It had become the first department store in then Ceylon, and also was the first to introduce Peugeot cars and Ridgeworth motorcycles in the 1930s.
In fact, according to Mr. Hewavitarne, an influential publication of the time, “20th Century Impressions of Ceylon”, dedicates a significant portion to Don Carolis & Sons, also indicating that visitors to Ceylon must make it a point to visit Don Carolis & Sons. The business continued its growth until the Great Depression of the 1930s when it entered a state of decline. It was only when Mr. Hewavitarne took over four years ago that the company was again able to achieve any semblance of its former glory.
Mr. Hewavitarne notes that there have been many changes to the business since its inception: “After 100 years we will have a new factory”. This new facility will prove to be the most striking contrast between the past and the present when compared to the current 148 year-old factory in Slave Island. Environmentally friendly and energy efficient, using all natural lighting and ventilation with virtually no electricity, the facility is almost fully mechanised, with no electric hand tools. It also features individual work stations comprising fully automatic pneumatic tools that are lightweight, non-electric and part of a full assembly line method, the new assembly line will use the same time period previously used to make 5 tables, at the old factory, to now fully complete 50 tables. All this with unskilled labour to keep costs down, spelling an end of the company’s dependence on “baas unnas”.
With such a single-minded focus on the future, what is the company’s position on challenges such as the continuing discourse on sustainability? Sustainability is inherent in timber so a tree having grown over 20 or 25 years must be cut down otherwise the trees growing in its vicinity (from its own seeds) will be negatively impacted, according to Mr. Hewavitarne. In addition, he advises that Mahogany and Teak are very much in demand and these are the best investments that can be made because prices are always appreciating. He further indicates that as Mahogany is easier to grow than coconuts and needs very little attention, it is a perfect crop and that once a tree is planted there will be an inexhaustible supply of new trees as it also seeds the area around it.
He also adds that, in part due to the company’s efforts, there is now less wastage and environmentally unfriendly dumping as wood waste such as wood shavings and saw dust was now being used to create an alternative energy source. This waste is turned into briquettes which are used as an alternative fuel for kilns used to season timber, dry tea, etc. and thus re-used and made environmentally friendly. Also, because of a 2006 project which expects to plant over 100,000 trees by 2011, Sri Lanka will have more Mahogany and Teak in 20 years than it has today.
Concluding, Mr. Hewavitarne attributes the rejuvenation of this old Sri Lankan institution to one group of people – his customers: “I would like to thank the people of Sri Lanka who have kept us going for 148 years. As an appreciation for all their support, we are offering an unprecedented discount of 20% for all products until the end of December.” |
E-mail