Accent source John-Richard looks to Vietnam factory
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, January 4, 2004
GREENWOOD, Miss. — John-Richard has established a source factory in Vietnam that will play a major role in its continuing production of hand-crafted accent furniture.
The link with the 189,000-square-foot plant in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was developed through an alliance with three English business partners.
The factory makes accent pieces, mostly Italian, English and French antique reproductions designed by John-Richard, that are marketed under the company's European Crossroads division, which made its debut last April.
"The pieces are not like anything anyone else is doing," said John-Richard President Alex Malouf Jr. "It's a look that will be identified with European Crossroads. The name is a division of John-Richard, but the factory is a strategic alliance between my three English partners."
The pieces combine wood, glass, eglomise, metal and decorative jewelry, he said. In addition to the inlay work, the pieces — from chests and side cabinets to side tables and vanity and lamp tables — are distressed to look more than 100 years old.
The business partners, whom Malouf declined to identify, considered plants in China, the Philippines and Indonesia, but chose Vietnam because of its skilled labor force and abundance of raw materials.
Malouf said the plant employs about 780 people.
"The Vietnamese are very nimble with their fingers and are very good with inlay work," he said. "We have a good team of men and women there. It's quite an incredible product line for us."
The move marks a change in direction for John-Richard, which sells a variety of products ranging from wall art and mirrors to bedding, ottomans and lighting.
Just after the Vietnam factory came on line last spring, John-Richard sold a factory in Mexico City that had made bedroom furniture and some accent pieces to a group that is producing contract furniture for hotels and motels.
That plant produced case goods sold under the Alexander and Mary line. The company still sells upholstery under that name, but not case goods. Malouf said the company decided to get out of case goods for business reasons.
"It was an error on our part to produce that product line," he said. "We didn't think that was our future. When you do as many things as we do, occasionally there is a mistake in judgment."
There are now about 150 accent pieces in the European Crossroads line. About 100 of those were introduced at the October market. More are due in April, but company marketing officials couldn't say exactly how many pieces.
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