‘Furniture export climate not the best it can be’

Rayana Hossain, director of DEKKO ISHO Group, is also a third-generation entrepreneur who has founded three successful brands — Izakaya, Klubhaus and premium furniture brand ISHO. 

She recently sat down with The Business Standard to discuss and share her insights into the furniture industry of Bangladesh, which has gone through major shifts in its almost 50-year history. 

Previously, a significant quantity of imported furniture was required to meet the customer demand in Bangladesh, but that is no longer the case. How did local brands contribute to the country achieving self-sufficiency in the furniture sector?

I can give my answer to this question in terms of design. There was a time when people would import Chinese furniture, despite the heavy taxes and everything. The people had a very traditional taste with regards to the designs of furniture and I believe that ISHO coming into the market actually gave people an option to avail furniture of their choice from within Bangladesh. 

I cannot really say that we are self-sufficient because there are things that we do not make. For example, metal chair parts. Maybe one or two people make them in Bangladesh, but the quality and their prices are still not something feasible so they have to be imported from China. So in terms of raw materials, we are not really self-sufficient, but there are more options to procure good furniture from within Bangladesh now.

How has the design language for furniture evolved over the years? What kind of designs do customers prefer these days compared to those in the past?

First of all it is important to understand that every demographic has their own preferences when it comes to furniture. The taste of furniture can vary from people living under different circumstances, in different locations and to people who are part of different age groups. I think the best way to look at how the taste of furniture works among people would be to look at the different age groups. 

For example, people who are the age of 40 and above have a preference towards more traditional designs. On the other hand, the younger generation cater more towards modern furniture because they consume more modern media and are up to date with contemporary style. 

Of course there are other customer bases as well. For example, the corporate customers already have an evolved taste in furniture. They are the kinds of customers who can afford to import furniture from China if they want to. So now we can make furniture for them as well but we have to make them understand that while these will have the same quality, it might be priced a little higher. But then again they can hold us accountable for our products.

The furniture sector has experienced a growth rate of approximately 30% in exports, with the export volume increasing nearly tenfold in the last decade. What is fueling this substantial surge in exports?

I think it's about getting access. Now, there are two ways of looking at this. One is that when you have an industry, more and more people are going towards design, which I think is one the things Bangladeshi people enjoy, which makes sense for us to go into that kind of sector in an industrial manner. 

I think, for us, a lot of people have been penetrating that level of growth where they are able to, sort of cross borders and go into India. But then again if anyone was to compare export of furniture with something like RMG, what is seemingly a surge, seems to become stagnant. In the furniture industry there are zero policies in place with regards to export. We sent in furniture for a government funded fair and it took us like 10 days to get that clearance done from the Indian border by the government. So the climate is not the best it can be when talking about exports. 

The other way of looking into the matter is by looking into the global market. We produce for Zara or companies like that, and they all have home furniture sectors. I mean, every single fashion brand has now invested highly in home decor. So for us, it's very important to have that second industry layer ready as well, because that's what we're seeing the companies do; they are catering towards the furniture industry. It only makes sense for our companies to have the other industry ready as well for this shift, which I'm not seeing the government understand or analyse yet to create those favourable policies.