Architect puts skills to furniture venture and thrives

Unity Makers founder and director Eric Engdahl at his workshop in Nairobi on October 31. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By Lynet Igadwah

In Summary

Bio Data

• Eric Engdahl, 29, first set foot in Kenya a year-and-a-half ago. He is an architecture graduate from New York.
• He had been offered a job by an acquaintance which didn’t work out.
• He set up his workshop, which employs 12 people, along Ngong Road. Most of his designs show a great sense of geometry and style.
• Mr Engdahl was also trained in fine art at Pratt Institute in New York.
• His immediate plan is to buy more machines to boost production.
• The firm has partnered with CAP Youth Empowerment Institute to train and hire young people as interns.

When Eric Engdahl first set foot in Kenya a year and a half ago he noticed a gap in the furniture market. The architecture graduate from New York wasted no time; he grabbed the opportunity and applied his skills to make custom-made furniture which exudes creativity and symmetry.

Why did he come in Kenya in the first place?

‘‘I was offered a job by an acquaintance, completely out of the blue, to do architectural work for a startup in Nairobi,’’ said 29-year-old Engdahl.

‘‘It sounded like an adventure and I like adventures, so I agreed. That position didn’t really work out, so after my three-month trial period we parted ways. By then I had identified a niche in the modern furniture market so I decided to stay and set up shop.’’

Today, Mr Engdahl runs a successful furniture business dubbed Unity Makers where he is director and designer. Among products offered by the shop — which incorporate a touch of class and uniqueness — are office, garden and home furniture.

Most of the designs show a great sense of geometry and style, with final products exhibiting angles rather than curves. “Our focus is on designs that are crisp, sharp and elaborate. Curves are rather common and not as eye-catching as angles,” Mr Engdahl said.

One of his designs is a coffee table which incorporates steel rods in its base and has a glass top which offers people a chance to admire the piece of work. The eye sees a different aspect depending on where one stands in the showroom.

Mr Engdahl, who also trained at Pratt Institute — a fine arts school based in New York — said that unlike his competitors he thinks geometry first rather that raw material.

“My approach is a bit more like architecture. I start with pen and paper then do 3D drawings, after which I do elaborate drawings which I hand over to my foremen who interpret and come up with the end product,” he said.

Mr Engdahl employs 12 people at his workshop along Ngong Road in Nairobi. His immediate plan is to bring in more machines to boost production. His employees currently take between two to four weeks to complete a project. This is one of the factors which raise the price of products.

“My target market is people who are design conscious and understand the worth of a given artistic piece as well as its durability,” he said.

Mr Engdahl said that his products are more affordable compared to imported ones available in local retail stores. But his journey into the business world has not been smooth sailing. He started off at a workshop then owned by his foreman, where he operated on a shoestring budget with funding from his savings and soft loans from friends.

Today he has a fully equipped workshop. “Though boot-strapping was a huge challenge, it laid the foundation for our desire to stay ahead of competitors,” he said.

He uses mvuli and cypress as raw materials and plans to incorporate mango wood. Despite the high quality of mango trees, he said, they are rarely appreciated and using them will give his products an edge over those of competitors.

“When mango trees get old their fruits are not really good. Deriving wood from the trees does not harm the environment as it gives room for younger ones to be grown. This is a win-win situation.