Meet the Team from KusudiCo

Let’s meet the founder behind local brand KusudiCo and find out more about their ethos and values, and how the brand continues to evolve…

KusudiCo was developed with deep local roots and a mission to create sustainability and opportunity in South Africa. Founder, Mike McKay has 34 years of experience in retail-buying, product sourcing and supplying retailers in the South African market. He has a passion for products and for people and believes that the only way forward for South Africa is to create more value in our beautiful country; import less and export more!

The idea behind this business is to collaborate with local design talent; work with some of our country’s best wood and steel furniture engineers and artisans; and assemble a range of expertly made furniture and décor products that appeal to and satisfy the needs of today’s modern urban customer.

Let’s hear more…

Can you recall how or why you became a Furniture Designer?

I don’t regard myself as a furniture designer, but I have a passion for furniture, décor & styling, or merchandising it in a way that makes it inspirational, relevant and affordable to the market. That’s why our range works well as a collection, rather than individual pieces. We work hard to inspire people and I take comfort when somebody excitedly, sends me a photo of our product in their home.

What would you say are your main influences when conceiving a piece of work?

Solving problems that people have in today’s modern living, both at home or at work, or where the home is the work place. How can we make limited space work more efficiently and effectively; strive to introduce more aesthetically pleasing products that are multi-functional; how do we merge functional design with creating comfort when in use.

What’s the sequence in the design process from the initial design idea to choosing your materials and final assembly?

Concepts, drawings and photo images, play out into components, parts and prototypes. Its at this stage that we perfect and sign off on a product before going into production. There are times where single components are produced in various workshops and then delivered to our warehouse, where we build it into a finished product for final QC inspection, before bringing it to market.

Do you work in a sustainable way?

We almost always work with raw materials that are from a sustainable source, for example most of our products are made from North American Ash wood. We are also aiming to do more in SA Pine, which is considered an alien species, so we are encouraged to develop product in this family of wood. We have used PET manufactured felt and we are testing product and/or components in resin and recycled plastic. KusudiCo is dedicated in collaborating with local craftsmen, artisans and engineers in smaller workshops and in so doing growing some of these smaller businesses. Its our mission and purpose to continue to create a more sustainable manufacturing industry in furniture, décor and related accessories in South Africa.

What part of the process excites you the most?

Definitely, when the product passes QC and we can put it on the sales floor and/or list it online. It’s exciting when the hard work comes together into a quality finished product. If we don’t get it right the first, we persist, improve and try again. The most exciting situation for me, is seeing how we can consistently improve on something and with each improvement we see increase sales of the product.

What would you say are your values and ethics when it comes to designing?

To assist satisfied customers in creating their space to thrive; this essentially forms our brand essence, and you will find it up on the walls around our 44 Stanley showroom.

Our design and business values are summed up with statements like, timeless design, lasting value; artisanal crafted, locally made; quick turnaround times; conscious and mindful in all that we do.

For more visit KusudiCo.