Why is wood such a popular choice for a home interior and exterior?
Despite the influx of new façade materials, how does wood continue to attract a
large number of buyers in the high-end market?
Wood will always be the material of choice for everyone on this
planet. Lumber sourced from environmentally sustainable forestry in Africa and
Europe is most pliable to “high-precision”, “machine-based”
instrumentation suitable for a myriad set of applications in the furniture and
interior industry. Wooden chips produced from seasoned and graded timber are
highly potent in their ability to be used as a key ingredient in producing high
and medium-density engineered panels that lend a high degree of predictability
and structural stability. The quality of wood to weather and age in context
with its environment is unrivalled. It forms an ageless patina over the
longevity of its use. Grained surfaces that create resplendent linear and
abstract patterns are a treat to the connoisseur’s eye. Natural oils with
simple loincloth applications are the best surface coatings on natural wood to
amplify its grace and life alike. The simplicity, timelessness, and organic
nature of wood make it the preferred choice of quality-conscious manufacturers
and customers. With wood kitchens nowadays, you can customise almost
everything, whereas with other materials, the choices are extremely limited.
In the market, there is a lot of imported merchandise. Several of them
are sub-par, posing a serious threat to branded products. Where does Interwood
stand in order to ensure quality?
Since 1989, my mantra has been to solve a problem and solve
it with consistency. From this was born my vision of manufacturing wellness
kitchens and wardrobes for a quality-seeking customer, helping him/her with a
solution that not only organises the way he/she cooks and thrives but also
enriches his/her lifestyle by offering him/her a safe, non-toxic product for
cooking and storing. Interwood’s biggest differentiator has been its recipe. It
has been used to manufacture modular kitchens and wardrobes with human
well-being as its core philosophy.
A wide range of innovative materials are available. How do you see
competition in the field of innovation? How much room is there for advancement
in woodworking machines?
I feel that innovation should be environmental centric.
Interwood has come a long way by not only delivering exceptional quality
products but also using sustainable materials and reducing its carbon footprint
at the same time. The domain of instrumentation is a nascent phenomenon in our
country. I believe industrialisation has just begun and that there is infinite
scope for innovating engineered methodologies to process, manufacture, and
finish and assemble progressive, factory fitted solutions in the woodworking
domain.
Segments that you’d like to penetrate and explore further in the
future? Which areas do you believe have future growth potential?
Interwood has been a pioneer and an innovator in the field
of modular home solutions. Going forward, Interwood sees great potential in
making personal spaces more secure and smarter. With innovation at our heart,
we are sure to further enrich people’s lives in the future. Our product segment
follows the strategy of “GO NARROW, GO DEEP”. So, while we will
continue to further refine our core competencies, we will be spreading
ourselves laterally to encompass a more widespread range of finishes,
accessories, and solutions that cater to the ever-expanding customer wish list.
Highly customised and bespoke solutions targeting the upper end of the market
will be our top revenue spinner. This is where we see our future growth
potential.
Where will your company’s next phase of growth come from? Which emerging markets/regions will you
concentrate your efforts on?
Interwood is expanding at an extraordinary rate. The
barometer of success for a manufacturing brand is its ability to quickly scale
to offer a “franchise-worthy” business model. With hard core
manufacturing in our DNA, we will continue to invest in strengthening our production
capacities, but we have focused our revenue growth on retail via a deeper and
wider network of channel sales partners. Deeper penetration in the North Indian
hinterland and non-represented regions of West India will be the front runners
for our next phase of revenue growth. We are on track to launch several new
experience centres in various cities across India.
What growth initiatives have you implemented to keep your market
position in this global industry?
Of the many initiatives we have implemented to steer growth
in line with our organisational goals, the most noteworthy would be our
value-added partnership model—a system by which Interwood offers the design
community, comprising of architects and interior designers, a platform for
mutual growth. Over the last year, we have also successfully transitioned from
a conventional business to an omnichannel brand boasting of a strong digital
footprint. Content marketing, brand awareness, and customer education
initiatives will play a large role in crafting our success story.
What are the most recent kitchen and wardrobe industry trends and
developments?
The design trends in our industry are largely influenced by
the best of Europe. While Italian designs continue to be the top favourites for
globally travelled Indians, German engineering has always been at the top of
their wish list. No wonder, then, that Interwood has always been imbued with
unalloyed German engineering in all its products. Successfully being able to
service the aforesaid, Interwood has morphed its products for Indian use by tropicalizing
German technology for Indian use. Our USP continues to be the “best of
Europe but at honest Indian prices.” Linear straight line concepts and
lacquered glass kitchens and wardrobes are our highest selling SKUs.
In terms of Design and Manufacturing, how technologically advanced are
you?
Started in 1989, Interwood today is a manufacturing marvel.
With fully automated assembly lines, cutting-edge technology, and
industry-leading processes in place, Interwood has the capacity to produce 500
kitchens and wardrobes every month. Gone are the days of assembling all the
parts. Interwood delivers retrofit products which take next to no time to
install. This ensures consistency of installation and failsafe compliance with
pre-determined quality checks.
Tell us about your most recent projects, as well as any project that
you’d want to highlight for our readers.
Interwood has been
working with leading Real Estate companies along with premium homeowners. Some
of our clients include Brigade Group, Salarpuria Sattva, Lodha Group, Nahar
Group, DivyaSree, Chaitanya builders, ITC Limited, etc.
