NEITHER FIRE nor volcanic eruption nor global recession can stop Calfurn, an Angeles City-based furniture manufacturer, from making a name in the international home furnishings scene.

From its humble beginnings in 1976, with 7 incorporators, 20 workers, and a capital of P30,500, Calfurn has since grown big and has gained upscale clients mainly in the United States as well as in Asia, Europe and Australia.

Initially, Calfurn catered to local buyers, particularly to servicemen assigned in the US Military Bases in Clark and Subic. It then ventured into the export market in the early ?80s and has been exporting since.

Present clients include Williams Sonoma Group (Williams Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn and West Elm), Crate and Barrel, Restoration Hardware, McKenzie, Palecek, Dillard?s and Ralph Lauren, while former customers include Neiman Marcus, Macy?s, Bloomingdales, Linen and Things, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Nordstrom, JC Penny and Bath & Body works to name a few.

Lately, Calfurn is re-conquering the local market with its world-class products that will satisfy the needs of local buyers.

Beginnings

Eredito P. Feliciano, chair of the board of Calfurn Manufacturing Philippines Inc., recalls that there was a big demand for rattan furniture when they started.

?With that kind of demand, the seven of us decided to put up this business. It?s a made-to-order kind of thing and the demand was huge,? Feliciano, who was only 23 years old when he joined Calfurn, explains.

He relates that their initial customers from the US Military Bases enjoyed Calfurn ?because they can get very good pricing,? citing for instance a furniture piece they sell for $100 that could cost around $400 to $500 back in the States.

Feliciano, a former jeepney driver and a CPA by profession, also shares that the name Calfurn or California Furniture came about in reference to their early American patrons.

In fact, they even named the furniture pieces they made for the US Military Bases after a Sgt. Fessler who commissioned them to do the set. Thus, Fessler chair and Fessler table. However, that particular design, which Macy?s department store picked up for a time, is no longer in the market today.

Materials

Majority of the raw materials are locally sourced. Aside from rattan, Calfurn also uses wicker, sea grass, bamboo, vines, abaca and other indigenous materials that proved to be a hit in the international market. Even the bark of abaca, which is normally discarded, is now being used in the many products of Calfurn.

Aside from the company?s in-house designers, Angelo R. Baltazar, Calfurn president and one of its founders, helps in creating Calfurn?s innovative designs. Feliciano says that it?s very important to introduce new designs to the market constantly.

But like any other thriving business, Calfurn had it share of crises in the many years that it had been in the furniture trade, such as when the factory was twice hit by fire, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, which badly affected the business, and the global recession.

But Feliciano relates how these crises became opportunities. When Mt. Pinatubo erupted, a good amount of their facilities collapsed to the ground.

?But that didn?t stop us from continuing the business and we even tried to help other people,? Feliciano affirms, adding that ?after three days we started putting back the factory.?

True enough, Feliciano attests to the ?bayanihan? spirit moving during that depressing episode: ?We have sets of people re moving ashes out of the factory; sets of people putting back the structure, there are those who are making production, and others going to the nearby provinces to buy canned goods and rice which we will give to our workers.?

They were the very first ones who moved to action and recovered quite easily, claims Feliciano.

?We were back to 60 percent capacity in 30 days and 100 percent capacity in 90 days,? beams Feliciano. ?You can see our firm resolve of turning a crisis into opportunity. Everybody is helping out. It?s beautiful? It really proves na ?pag kumilos lahat, and in unison with the direction where you want to go, mabilis at madaling makabangon.?

Recession

On the other hand, the global recession also affected them as orders from abroad slightly decreased but again, Feliciano says ?it became an opportunity for us to look into the local market.?

?Before, we?re saying at the start that the way to grow is the export market, but now the way to recovering the volume loss in the export would be via the local market,? explains Feliciano, who was awarded Outstanding CPA in Entrepreneurship in 2001 and Most Outstanding Kapampangan in Business with Civic Consciousness in the Province of Pampanga in 1993.

And with the onset of premium residences and fully furnished condominiums in the country, Feliciano is optimistic that they can meet the needs of these specific local buyers and assures that their pricing can tailor fit to that of the consumers? budget.

Throughout its 34 years in the furniture business, Calfurn has developed communities and trained many people not only in Pampanga but in nearby towns and provinces. And from its initial 20 workers, the company?s workforce is now more than a thousand.

They also train and employ out-of-school-youths, on the condition that they will finish their studies, to make baskets and other accessories.

Asked what makes Calfurn a hit in the global market, Feliciano declares: ?Design-wise ours is really world-class. Filipinos are very skillful. Our products are hand crafted and you could see na iba talaga ang kamay ng Pinoy. And foreign buyers are very happy about it.? Including acclaimed singer Celine Dion, who was featured in a foreign magazine sitting on Calfurn?s Malabar Chair inside her home.

Indeed, Calfurn has been continuously making waves worldwide, and nothing can stop them from showing the world the best of Filipino craftsmanship but, Feliciano has this one dream: ?I would like a good portion of our countrymen to have a piece of furniture of Calfurn. I want them to enjoy the comfort of a chair, the beauty of its workmanship and the creativity of the workers (who made it), that every time they would be sitting on a chair they will remember Calfurn who did the product.

Around the world, ang dami ng umupo sa ginawa namin, it?s about time na matuwa naman ang Pinoy.?