COMPANY PRESENTATION
NEW FURNITURE FOR A NEW ERA More than half a century of experience. Brafab is a family business with a long history. The Brorsson family have been making business in Hishult, Halland, for more than 80 years. Today, our sales department, showroom, offices and buffer stock are located in Hishult. The main warehouse and distribution centre is in Markaryd.
The high demand for camping furniture continued through the 1980s. Back then, Brafab sold both plastic and wooden furniture. The pine furniture was made in Sweden and the plastic range was produced elsewhere in Europe.
Bror Karlsson was a door-to-door salesman who started his company in 1930. Back then, the merchandise included brushes, ladders, homemade baskets and other small items. Twice a year, Bror Karlsson made the rounds from farm to farm, selling his wares directly from his van. In the 1960s, the family began selling merchandise in the town squares of Laholm, Båstad, Falkenberg and Kungsbacka.
Eventually, Brafab started looking for new and interesting furniture to import. In the late 1990s, Brafab began buying garden furniture from Indonesia, China and Vietnam. Garden furniture of manmade materials like aluminium and artificial wicker was a new and popular trend.
Things really started happening when Bror Karlsson’s son, Rolf Brorsson, joined the company. Brorsson bought larger quantities of goods, and quickly realised that it would be a good idea to retail to others in the trade. The business gained a new direction and the trading company became a limited liability company in 1975; Bra Fritidsprodukter AB, BRAFAB. What customers wanted most in the 1970s was camping furniture, outdoor cushions and garden furniture. They got access to the furniture in a simple way – through outdoor sales at petrol stations, town squares and car parks. Brafab’s wholesale operations started taking off at the same time and the company achieved strong growth.
Brafab works hard to nurture long-term relationships with customers, employees and suppliers. A lot of our customers have been with us since the very beginning. Several of our employees have been involved in building the business since the mid 1980s. Brafab is truly fortunate in its knowledgeable and dedicated staff. Our entire company is characterised by commitment to excellence in design, functionality and customer service. Long-lasting relationships are also important to maintain when it comes to suppliers. Brafab knows that mutual trust and fruitful cooperation are things that grow after people have worked together for a long time. Rolf is still active in the company, although the company was sold to Benny Nilsson, Furnigroup a couple of years ago. Also Brafabs present CEO Johan Engström has a minor share of the company.
BEHIND THE SCENES Marie Bergqvist
Product Manager, Brafab What is Brafab’s 2019 product range inspired by? “‘Outdoor homing’, i.e. outdoor surroundings that reflect the trends set by the indoor environment. A mix of materials and furniture that is easy to move and rearrange. They have to be practical, close to nature and have soft lines. They draw inspiration from the Scandinavian pallet, with features in warmer tones.” Which of this year’s new arrivals must not be missed? “Gonesse. So stylish, comfortable and flexible.” What’s a good tip before choosing new furniture? “Work on the whole setting and coordinate more – there are many materials and new functions. And don’t forget to create a comfortable place ‘just for being’.”
Dick Björk
Swedish furniture designer How would you describe yourself as a designer? “My relationship with furniture demands each piece to be so well designed and well-made that it becomes part of your life. You should be able to grow together and ideally pass them on to the next generation. This way they acquire their own history, which is both exciting and eco-friendly.”
Why do you think Brafab furniture is a good choice? “I can promise that my furniture is enduring in both quality and design. I wanted the furniture to have a strong, timeless personality that is happily inherited. You always get your money’s worth with furniture from Brafab.”
What was your thinking behind the design of Brafab’s modern Vevi and Gotland series? “When I designed Vevi, my aim was to create an elegant, modern teak series with a high degree of seating comfort. I used the long ribs to provide a sense of elegance that was also restful on the eye.” “Through my involving steel, Gotland took on smaller dimensions and is perceived as being more delicate than it really is. Good stackability saves space for the user, and the generously dimensioned dining table with its insertable leaf provides room for many.”
Vevi
Hugo de Ruiter
Dutch furniture designer
How would you describe yourself as a designer? “My designs are dynamic in both form and function. They always have components that make the furniture easy to move or adjust to make sure they suit the user and every day living. This could just as easily be a private occasion or a social gathering, or a quiet time on the sofa to enjoy the summer sunshine.”
“When designing Reims, I worked with the feeling that many people long for great seating comfort combined with clean lines and rectangular shapes. If you have a home with modern architecture, the furniture on the patio must also harmonize with it. Reims is an excellent example of how clean, stylish lines can be combined with great seating comfort.”
How would you describe your latest Brafab series – Gonesse and Reims? “I did not begin with form in the case of Gonesse. Instead, I studied various ways of socialising to create the concept ‘form follows life’. The result was Gonesse, a geometric 3D furniture puzzle that I enjoyed being able to solve in a creative, comfortable and beautiful way.”
Why do you think Brafab furniture is a good choice? “Brafab is a renowned quality brand that takes great responsibility for its furniture, customers, the environment and society in general. Life is too short to choose furniture that you regret after just one season. Maybe Brafab is not the cheapest, but when you choose designer furniture from Brafab it will be your friend for life.”
Gonesse
AN UNUSUALLY WIDE RANGE Our business concept is to design, market and sell good-looking, high-quality garden furniture, mainly in Europe We currently generate annual sales of about 34KEuro and are the largest supplier of garden furniture in the Nordic. Outside these countries, our garden furniture are available everywhere in northern Europe. We are still ambitious and aim to grow in the rest of Europe. As a company, Brafab enjoys a Triple A credit rating. Furninova our sister company is one of the largest upholstered furniture producers in the Nordic countries. They are fashion leaders with particular expertise in textiles, an area where we see great potential in our cooperation within the group. The Brafab range is wide and flexible. Our range of about 1,500 products includes both basic and more upmarket garden furniture from complete suites to bistro sets, camping furniture, parasols and cushions. We have everything to make outdoor living a delight. Materials vary from aluminium and plastic to pine and teak, to genuine and artificial wicker.Having a flexible, variable range has been a successful strategy for us. We have deliberately chosen not to manufacture inhouse and have not limited ourselves to any one particular material. The majority of our products are sourced in Asia. We have employees on-site in China and Indonesia to maintain control over, and survey our shipments and production. They make sure shipments are on time and that the quality of the furniture is as we intended – before it is shipped to our warehouse or to our custmers. A large portion of our production is drop-shipped directly to customers.
Our staff in China and Indonesia also help us monitor events in the fast-changing market and they look for new opportunities on our behalf. We also import a great deal of furniture from European countries e.g. swings, camping furniture, plastic furniture and outdoor cushions. Our first priority is making sure we can offe highquality products that are good value for money. Trend-watching is a key to success. We travel all over the world to pick up impressions of trends and fashion. Our product development team visit trade fairs and suppliers and gather knowledge and inspiration in a wide variety of settings. This sometimes results in entirely new pieces, other times in adjustments that add new characteristics to pieces already in the range – characteristics that may be essential to fit the European market. We are proud of being able to devise smart solutions we know will make people happy. We are good at understanding the consumer. We listen carefully to our customers, but also to the people who use our furniture. Consumers give us ideas and trigger thoughts that we take in and process. Our dedicated sales team work both out in the field and in the office. They respond to queries and solve any problems that might occur in the most optimal way. We value customer service. We also think accessibility is important and we make sure our customers can reach us easily. Via the Brafab web shop, our customers can check the stock situation for our products and place their orders directly online, around the clock, every day of the year.
In the 2019 collection, we have been inspired by nature and played with colour and form. Take your personal style with you outdoors and make the most of your time.
7 good reasons to choose outdoor furniture from Brafab 1. Customized for you All of our furniture is carefully thought out and can be adapted to your needs. Take note of the seat height, back angle and choice of materials next time you look at our furniture. You’ll notice how different it is from many other products on the market. What’s more, it’s equally resistant to the climate in Scandinavia as it is down south in the Mediterranean.
2. Elegant solutions All of our furniture is colour coordinated. This means you can furnish your entire patio with matching furniture. We also have specially tailored furniture covers and maintenance products ideally suited to your particular selection.
3. Avant-garde designs Want to be a trendsetter? Then you should take a look at our product range. As the market leader, we set trends and drive the industry forward. We make sure you don’t buy a product you risk getting bored with after just one season.
4. Sturdy frames Almost all of our frames are made of aluminium – a material with many advantages compared to e.g. steel, both when it comes to corrosion protection and allowing light, easy-to-move furniture. There’s a big difference in the strength of a product with a stout frame compared to a thin one.
5. Stronger synthetic rattan A lot of the synthetic rattan products available today contain a high percentage of recycled plastic, which is both weaker and has lower UV resistance. We seek to use the stronger “virgin” synthetic rattan in all of our furniture.
6. Fabric All of our fabrics have consistently high UV resistance and withstand the sun’s rays well. They’re also made from materials that are durable and easy to clean.
7. Long life Durability is important to us! Because we want your favourite furniture to last a long time, we’re meticulous in our choice of materials. Should anything wear out, we keep a large stock of spare parts and coverings.
efficieNt distributioN For us, being the biggest garden furniture supplier in the Nordic countries means having a large, well-stocked and organised warehouse and distribution centre.
LARGE WAREHOUSE AND EFFICIENT DISTRIBUTION our Warehouse is unique – as it should
keeping a good-sized stock also demands
be. As a result, we can back up our claims of reliable delivery. The main benefit of keeping a large stock is that our customers can get the furniture they order fast and we can quickly ship top-up orders during the season. Our furniture can be delivered to our customers within a week and we keep products in stock late into the summer.
financial strength. Our positive cash flow and strong liquidity give us the opportunity to plan long-term. Among other things, we plan for future seasons carefully and in good time. Our purchasing is completed far in advance. This way, we can offer garden furniture virtually worldwide for most of the year.
For us, being the biggest garden furniture supplier in the Nordic countries means having a large, Another special service from our warehouse is the When youwarehouse have a wide and full range of productscentre.. in well-stocked and organised and distribution
large stock of parts – armrests, ironmongery, slats, 33,000 m2 of space, things have to be organised. wheels, tabletops and much more. We keep parts Our logistics system is well developed and efficient. Our warehouse is unique – as it should be. As a result, Keeping a good-sized stock also demands financial in stock for furniture in the current range, of course, Our warehouse staff use scanners to ensure a clear we can back up our claims of reliable delivery. The main strength. Our positive cash flow and strong liquidity but also for furniture purchased from us several overview and structure in the order picking process. benefit of our stock strategy is that our customers can gives us the opportunity to plan long-term. Among other years ago. We think this is a major strength.
get the furniture they order fast and we can quickly ship top-up orders during the season. We can deliver to our customers within a week and we keep products in stock late into the summer. When you have a wide and full range of products in 33,000 m2 of space, things have to be organized and our logistics system is well developed and efficient.
Our warehouse in Markaryd, 33 000 sqm big.
things, we plan for future seasons carefully and in good time. Our purchasing is completed far in advance. This way, we offer garden furniture virtually worldwide for most of the year. Another strength is the large stock of spare parts; we keep this in stock for furniture in the current range, of course, but also for furniture purchased from us several years ago.
Modern warehouse-logistics using handheld computers.
Contact us DANIEL CARLQVIST
JONAS BENGTSSON
Sales manager
Sales
Daniel.c@brafab.se
Jonas.b@brafab.se
+46 709 949 308,
+46 709 949 304,
+46 430 493 08
+46 430 493 04
www.brafab.se
www.brafab.se
Norra ร ssjรถ, S-312 53 Hishult, Sweden info@brafab.se I www.brafab.com