1 minute read
A dairy full of SAWDUST
from The Crest 97
COTSWOLD FURNITURE IS A LOCAL SMALL BUSINESS CRAFTING FINE FURNITURE TO ORDER,
WRITES STEPHEN SMITH
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From an old but characterful dairy in the farmlands near Baynesfield, between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, comes a range of sleek, modern and beautiful handcrafted furniture.
Cotswold Custom Made Furniture started not as a family business as such, but more as a family hobby. Richard Kaufmann’s dad, Paul, used to do woodworking as a hobby, then turned it into a small business. After an accident Paul stopped woodworking, and the dairy and the machinery sat unused for years. Richard, meanwhile, was working in the States farming potatoes, coming back for a few months every year over the Northern Hemisphere winter, our Christmas. Kicking his heels on the family farm, he wandered into the dairy parlour and began tinkering, and the process of a hobby turning into a business repeated itself. That was only a smidge over two years ago, with Richard working long hours in the dairy, making furniture by hand. Now Richard employs six other people and spends most of his time managing the growing business.
While Richard started more or less by himself, for a few months at the beginning he got some mentoring from a Zimbabwean carpenter who used to work with his dad. Then a business up the road that made beekeeping equipment closed down. What could have been a catastrophe for the community was actually serendipitous, as the out-of-work employees had some woodworking skills and knowledge. Richard employed a few of them, which was a bit of luck for everyone involved.
Every piece of furniture produced is made to order for a customer, be it an individual or one of the few furniture boutiques Cotswold Furniture supply. Richard comes up with the final design with the customer and then builds it to »
BELOW: Richard Kaufmann is growing a business started by his father.
ABOVE: Industrial woodworking machinery now stands where cows lined up to be milked.
