| February 2012 |
Trend Blast |
Horses have long played a role in design because we are fascinated with horses and everything equestrian in nature. In the 2013 Trends, the horse and all things equestrian will continue to play a huge role in design. Here are some ways it will be used:
1. Horses of all kinds and poses will be central to the horseplay theme. Horses will be standing, galloping or walking
2. Included in this theme will be elements which are taken from the equestrian theme such as crops, bits, saddles, helmets, riding boots, jackets, horse shoes, trophies—basically anything that brings in the thoughts and nostalgia of horses and the equestrian scene.
3. Board game tables will come into the mix, everything from backgammon, poker to Parcheesi kinds of geometrics. Even dart board will come back into play, reminding us of the old western bars. Included in this are elements taken from these games such as a giant deck of cards or poker chips.
4. When we think of horses we also think of horse blankets such as plaids, tartans, anything that will give the feel for this horseplay trend. For inspiration look at actual equestrian blankets used by cowboys and others.
5. Leather will continue be important. Including embossed crocodile, suede or hair-on-hide. For inspiration look at cowboy boots, saddles, belts and bits. All have some great example of some of the leathers that can be used. Nail head trims will play an important role.
6. To take this trend a step further wood will be a medium of dull finish or a low luster black color. Metal will be between the silver medal for the trophy to the iron on a horseshoe. Glass will be etched, again giving a western feel and porcelain will be glossy and ceramics will be matt and almost moss covered.
This trend is building upon the library trend of 2012, but expanding on the entire horse and equestrian theme. Plan ahead now to have this horse and equestrian trend play a major role in your design work for 2012 and your product range for 2012 and 2013.
| February 2012 |
Product Updates |
In a world inundated with plastic, Mondoro produces solid wood furniture. Properly producing solid wood items requires thoughtful and creative design and careful consideration of technical considerations. Here are some of them:
1. Wood Type; Not all wood types can effectively be used for solid wood furniture. Wood that is hard to medium is often the best choice. Besides the hardness of the wood, the wood must also be available in quantities that can be used for production and also meet cost limitations set by the final product. Also important in all this is to ensure that the wood used is wood that is properly managed and purchased by companies who responsibly meet reasonable environmental standards. A properly managed forest will sustain both the forest and the wildlife for future generations. At Mondoro we work to ensure all our wood is purchased from acceptable, sustainable, managed forests.
2. Cutting: Logs from most trees can be quite large. Before the wood can be used for furniture production they must first be cut into useable pieces, which generally means in slats that can then be properly dried. Some wood such as rubber wood, requires that the wood be placed in a machine and treated to take out all the rubber sap and any bugs. Without this step rubber wood cannot be used for any type of production.
3. Drying: Once the wood has been cut and otherwise treated, then the wood must be dried. Different woods have different drying requirements but the basic standard is from 6 to 8%. The drying needs to be done in a kiln and the wood must stay in the kiln until it is dried to the required standard. It then must be properly stored and checked for moisture content before production.
4. Joining, Shaping and Finishing: From a furniture standpoint and also from the standpoint of the finished product it is important how the furniture is joined together. Proper gluing can be technically complicated and may require exacting techniques. How the piece is joined together will make a difference in the overall quality of the solid wood piece of furniture. The joining, shaping and finishing process will also ultimately affect the final step of finishing. For example if you have a light finish on a piece of furniture you must ensure the pieces joined together are of the same color tones. But if on the other hand you have a piece you will paint in black the piece may allow for more variations of the wood tones as a darker finish will be placed on the top. All of these must be considered in the joining, shaping and finishing stages—and all may affect final cost.
Solid wood furniture when produced properly is not only a great work of art but also a piece of furniture that can last for years to come. In our world with plastics and other man-made materials there is still nothing that can compare to the look and feel of real wood.
| February 2012 |
BlogSplatter |
One of the most annoying things before, during and after the Chinese New Year is the Chinese love for noise as they set off firecrackers. There is no specific rule for when or how they set them off and I have heard them set them off in the middle of the night or early morning. These firecrackers are usually loud and messy as they can leave an entire street covered in red paper. The city of Guangzhou has a ban on the use of firecrackers, but in other parts of China they are permitted.
I am not sure what is about the fascination that motivates the setting off these firecrackers, but the Chinese seem to be mesmerized by them, as the bigger, longer and louder the better. Many times if I am on the phone and the firecrackers go off I have to stop my conversation and wait from up to 5 or10 minutes. It seems that everyone has to set them off. If your neighbor does then you need to. It can go on every month but is mostly used before, during and long after the Chinese New Year period.
I recently found out that this loud, noisy tradition has roots in a monster story. Traditionally the Chinese believed that at the end of the year a monster would come to you if you did not place red paper around your door frame and then light firecrackers to scare them off. In short the firecracker is believed to scare off all evil spirits and misfortune for the New Year. They are a sign of luck. So perhaps the more luck you want in the coming year the louder your firecrackers should be. In a Chinese New Year parade the firecrackers will be set off at the feet of the Dragon to keep the dragons awake and alert and to keep the evil spirits out and misfortune away.
I do not know about you, but I think I am going to go out this New Year and not only just join in the fun but also go get myself a loud set of firecrackers to keep the Dragon awake to ward off all those evil spirits and misfortune.
| February 2012 |
Mondoro Charities |
In Dec 2011, Anita Hummel biked 100K to help some schools in Cambodia. Our main project for 2012 will be to go back to this area in 2012 and give to the schools backpacks and school supplies for all their students. We hope that you will continue to work with us to help give to worthy projects and poor schools in Asia. Those of you who know something of the history of Cambodia and the suffering of the people during and after the Vietnam War will have a special reason to want to contribute.
| February 2012 |
Mondoro News |
During 2012, Mondoro is changing the name of the design forms to emphasize that creating new ideas is the purpose of the form. The name will be changed from Design Forms to Design Idea Forms. We are in the business of developing ideas and we want to emphasize that.
1. Our Design Idea Form will give more information on the form as to colors, trends, suggested materials, and finishes. We believe that the more information we can give you about the design idea we have created the more you will be able to see if this idea is workable for your collection.
2. We believe also that design needs to be a collaborative effort. To do our part we can be your eyes and ears in Asia and give you some ideas on designs or things we think you may find interesting. The new Design Idea Form will hopefully provide you with new important information such as a suggested country of manufacture, or other pertinent information that might help you to make your decision.
3. These design ideas give us a way to give to you ideas, looks and finishes and give you an idea of what the final sample may look like. We feel that by everyone working together we can get to you the products which will ultimately sell.
4. Mondoro is working to be a trend focused company. Our newsletter this year for example has a new trend for each month. The Design Idea Forms are part of this new focus. We want to not just do designs, but also to do designs that will have meaning for our customers and that are trend worthy.
5. Mondoro will increasingly consider we are successful if our ideas will more rapidly take you from an idea to a sample, to an order. We believe in not just looking at the design but also looking at the design idea to see if, with inspired collaboration, a sample and ultimately an order resulted. We expect this emphasis will give us a more realistic picture of our success or show us areas we must improve.
At Mondoro we are constantly looking at ways that we can improve our customer service and improve the information we give our customers. We believe that the more relevant our design ideas are that you receive from us the more we can encourage a collaboration that will allow us to manufacture for you products that sell for the long term. Our new Design Idea Form is part of this new focus.
One of the most common misconceptions about risk is that risk is always bad. The truth is that risk and opportunity are linked together. To have an opportunity you must have some risk. Therefore to have full opportunity you must also accept the risk that is linked to the opportunity. In short, those who shy from risk or feel they want to only be in a company that avoids all risk are just fooling themselves. To have the opportunities that are needed they must also take on the risk. There is in reality no advantage to having no risk at all.
Take for example Henry Ford when he invented a new way to manufacture the automobile he took a huge risk. There are many things that could and did go wrong with the first cars that were produced using unskilled labor ina new way. But Ford continued to press forward, to either embrace, eliminate or find ways to change those risks. The first historic demonstration of a large scale, high volume auto assembly line had huge risks, but in fact it can be shown that their risks gave them the opportunity toset an historic standard of cost and quality still remembered and admired today. Henry Ford understood opportunity and risk were linked. The real issue then is not that risk is bad, but how the risk is managed.
Risk is a tricky subject, since the bad risk for one person can be a good risk for another. Insurance companies make their money mainly on what is considered to be a bad risk for most people and can be a good risk in the hands of experienced risk takers.
But despite all this, risk, either good or bad, should not be taken just for the heck of it. The risk should be carefully assessed and analyzed and all potential losses should be looked at and weighed. All possible outcomes should be considered and common sense dictates that one should never risk more than they can afford to lose.
So to answer the question, not all risks are bad, infact many risks may just be the opportunity that you are looking for.
By choosing Mondoro you gain a partner in Asia with experience in the home furnishing and accessories industry. Mondoro help you design, develop and manufactures products in China and Vietnam. Visit our website or contact us for more information about Mondoro.
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Yes stripes on products are set to come back for the 2013 trends. Look for strips in a variation of color ways and on a variation of products – everything from furniture to accessories to lamps. Here are some things to look for:
1. Stripes in all variations. From thin to wide and everything in between. Uniformed to a variety. Also think of things like men shirting stripes, those thin lines you can hardly see, but they are stripes.
2. Somehow stripes and the sailing set seem to always go hand and hand. So think of these stripes as an update to the nautical look of the 2012 trends.
3. Stripes can also go with other geometric shapes as circles, rectangles triangles and boxes. So you can have stripes alone or together with other geometric forms.
4. Stripes will even be seen in furniture items, from veneer to lacquer items. They can be bold or be subtle.
5. For color think of bold to black and white. In fact black will play an important role as it will accentuate the other colors.
6. Think of other details that can also be considered as a strip such a binding, piping, top stitching basically anything you can think of from rope to buttons to elastic.
Stripes and the Striping-It trend is not a new trend. Over the years stripes have come and gone. But expect to see stripes continue to be a fashion statement for the 2013 trends. If you are lacking information look at some of the spring and summer collections for some of the designers or fashion houses who have always loved this look such as Zara International or Ralph Lauren. Take the plunge, add a few stripes into your collection this season as you think fashion forward towards 2013.
| January 2012 |
Product Updates |
Anyone who is looking to sell lamps into the United States should provide only lamps which are UL (Underwriters Laboratories) certified and approved. Mondoro has this UL approval for our lamps shipped from China and Vietnam. For UL approval we must be ready to receive a surprise visit by a UL inspector, to ensure that all our UL approved lamps undergo proper testing before we place the UL label on them. The parts we use must also be UL certified parts. UL certified lamps require a variety of different types of parts. . Here are some of the basic parts we use:
1. Sockets. Mondoro basically uses two types of sockets but can use others if required. The sockets we use are:
a. Heavy Duty Solid brass 3 ways sockets – For our high end lamps we prefer to use whenever possible the higher heavy duty solid brass 3 ways socket. Even though this socket is more expensive than the regular socket—that quality outweighs the cost in our opinion. The socket is screwed in so that it can remain tight for a longer of time. This kind of socket is considered one of the best in our industry.
b. Regular Socket – For those customers who require it we also use a regular socket. This can be 3 ways or 1 way, a push switch, or a twist knob. It just depends again on the requirements of our customer.
2. Harps and Saddles– Like our sockets we also have two types of harps, heavy duty and also regular. Like the sockets the heavy duty harp and saddle are more expensive but they use a thicker and better quality metal.
3. Cords - We have a variety of cord colors, but the basic colors we use are white, yellow and brown. We are happy to produce for you using any these colors.
4. Switches – We use a variety of switches that may be required for special requirements such as the foot on and off switch or a dimmer switch.
5. Other parts –We have done the UL wiring for other parts such as an S socket for a double socket often required for contract or hotel projects.
6. Wet locations – We also have UL parts for wet location lamps that can be used outside in a wet area. These lamps require a completely new set of UL parts including a glass bulb to keep the socket protected and extra heavy duty cords for outdoor use.
Our lamps have UL labels on them and are tested and certified by United Laboratories. UL inspectors randomly come into our facility to check and test the lamps we are exporting. All this UL service is expensive to initiate before you receive UL approval allowing you to produce, and costly to continue. We are proud that we provide this service in Vietnam and China. For any of your UL lamp needs, please contact us. We would be happy to give you a quote or to show you representative examples of the type of products we are exporting.
| January 2012 |
BlogSplatter |
On Dec 13, 1937 Nanjing experienced what was one of the most brutal and little known attacks of World War II, now famously called the Rape of Nanjing. The Japanese invaded Nanjing China and for 6 weeks and longer, terrorizing the inhabitants of the city during December 1937 and long into January 1938. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and soldiers were murdered, in fact some say the number was as high as 300,000. The reason they call it specifically the rape of Nanjing has a lot do with what actually happened there. It is estimated that anywhere from 20,000 to 80,000 Chinese men, women and children were brutally raped by the invading Japanese soliders, making this not only one of the gravest events during this time period but also one of the most brutal.
The Rape of Nanjing has long been a sore spot between China and Japan. Japan has admitted the massacre took place, but disputes the numbers of killed and raped that the Chinese have given. The problem is simply that the invading Japanese army conveniently destroyed any records of this time period so the truth could never really be known.
This event is about ready to come to life again, but on the big screen with Christian Bale, the famous Batman actor, in a movie called The Flowers of War. You can view the official trailer here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wWitJC34AM. Christian Bale has joined forces with a Chinese production company to tell a fictional story about this era of China’s history during the Rape of Nanjing. The movie is interesting since first of all the Chinese have spent a lot of money on it. For this production they brought in a lot of big named actors. Secondly, they have hopes for their first Oscar for a Foreign Film and critics say they have a very good chance to get it; and thirdly, and most importantly, it will help the world to understand on some small level the story of what happened during this brutal Rape of the City of Nanjing, so that hopefully we can learn from past mistakes and ensure nothing like this inhuman brutalityever happens again anywhere in the world.
When the movie comes out, I will definitely go to the theatre to see the big screen production. I feel that we should try to support films that try to remind us about the mistakes of the past so that we can on some level honor those who suffered because of this unnecessarily brutal attack.
| January 2012 |
Mondoro Charities |
Last month as I was watching the CNN Heroes show where they honored, ordinary but unknown men and women who were doing great things around the world in a very extraordinary way. The show reminded me that from small and simple things can we accomplish great things. During 2012 Mondoro hopes to earn enough money to give 250 backpacks to some very poor schools in Cambodia. Join with us, in a small way to help educate those who are less fortunate and give them a chance for a new life.
| January 2012 |
Mondoro News |
The Lunar Chinese New Year for 2012 will ring in the Year of the Dragon. The Dragon is a very important symbol in Asia. In times past the dragon represented power and in particular the emperor. Today the Dragon represents success, fortune and happiness. Needless to say the year of the Dragon is suppose to be good year especially to children because people born in this year are said to be able to rise to the top as far as success and power goes. As an interesting side note, many Chinese couples will try to have a child born in this year resulting in a spike in sales for infant products. This is an example of how traditional things such as the Chinese horoscope can lead to a change in a business cycle.
As the Year of the Dragon is a year of success, good fortune and happiness, we can all hope that the year 2012 or at least part of it will bring to our business at least some of those things. There is little doubt that the furniture and accessory business has suffered greatly due to the economic downturn in the United States and continues to do so. So to have the added boast of the power of the Year of Dragon on our side of success, good fortune and happiness, will be welcomed. We should all hope that the Year of the Dragon will shine brightly upon all of us.
Mondoro’s offices in China and Vietnam will be closed to ring in the year of the dragon. Our offices will close from about January19th and will re-open on January 30th. During our closure we will periodically check our e-mail in an effort to respond to urgent problems as quickly as possible.
At Mondoro we wish you all success, good fortune and continued happiness during the year of the Dragon. We look forward to our continuing to be able to serve you during the Dragon year!
Long NianKwai Le! Happy Year of the Dragon!
The other day I was reading some material about what makes a leader great and what are the qualities that a leader needs to developto be a successful example to others.. An important conclusion was that research has shown that integrity is necessary if a leader is to sustain his or her leadership position over a long period of time.. I had to go back and carefully read again to confirm that the word integrity was actually used. The word seems a bit more likely to be used in a Sunday School class instead of in a graduate level course on leadership.
Integrity is considered to be an essential trait or quality of a lasting leader. We all know some so-called leaders who seem to have obtained a measure of success obtained by ignoring the need for integrity. The question is how long will the success last? The key point here is that to have a profound, lasting impact and to be a long standing successful leader you must develop integrity as a way of doing business.
If you think about it, this makes perfect sense. Who really wants to follow someone if they will not keep their word or if they are not trustworthy? They may have a following for a while, but they will not succeed long term. Integrity on a very high level means being reliable and trustworthy to everyone they influence.
It is interesting to note that integrity is placed so high as an essential trait, yet it is probably also one of the hardest traits for any leader to maintain over a long period of time. I am sure during the economic downturn many, myself included, have had their integrity tested. Yet, as leaders it is a test we cannot afford to fail, since the success or failure of how we do as a leader will ultimately rest on our integrity as a human being. In short, having this trait is an essential part of any organization’s overall success and should be at the forefront of all we do. Leadership and integrity need to go hand in hand.
By choosing Mondoro you gain a partner in Asia with experience in the home furnishing and accessories industry. Mondoro help you design, develop and manufactures products in China and Vietnam. Visit our website or contact us for more information about Mondoro.
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| December 2011 |
Trend Blast |
Here are my picks for the best Home Furnishing Trends for 2011. These trends will continue to play an important role well into 2012.
Sleek, Clean and Modern - It is no surprise that there has been a long-term fashion trend in the home furnishing industry towards a cleaner, sleeker and more modern product. The trend can best be described as seeking inspiration from Scandinavia in particular Sweden and Denmark. This modern look may not appeal to all, but it is a look that is continuing to gain momentum, especially in the United States. Clean, simple straight lines, will be here to stay for a while.
The New York, NY Style - The style from Wall Street, those of bankers, stockbrokers and other power based jobs, is setting a trend for the rest of us in the form of the New York, NY Style. This style is first and foremost a materialistic style that puts together the button-uped refrained style of those in the powerful jobs with a bit of rustic and comfortable charm. These New York Styles mix well with many of the other styles we continue to see in the market place, where there are demands for cleaner lines that are refined yet simple looks that has a refined elegance and which add home grown comfort. Expect to see variations of this trend continue in 2012.
The Library Design- Horses, animal figures and other things that can be found in a library will continue to be strong throughout 2012. There will be variations of this that come into sales for the next year, everything from the true American horse themes to more red, white and blue. The library trend will continue to be an important trend throughout 2012 and into 2013.
Green Style – Within all the trends, the word green, recycled, reused or refurbished will be important. Some of this will be the sentiments originating from during and after World War II when people were encouraged to make due or re-use. Look for this aspect of design to continue throughout 2012 and into 2013.
Outdoor Living – As more people stay home to entertain, all the space they have for entertainment becomes important, including the outdoors. The outdoors living spaces will continue to look more like what was more traditionally only indoors. Expect to also see furniture that can be used both indoors and outdoors play a bigger role. Things as outdoor lamps and lighting will continue to be strong.
These are some of our top 5 trends that we feel will continue to be strong for 2012 and onto 2013. As Mondoro is always looking ahead, look for our newsletter in 2012 where for each month we will highlight a new trend that will be important for the upcoming 2013 season. Be a forward thinker – with us!
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