lakerice wrote:Hi I am a furniture designer and was wondering if anyone knows about the furniture manufacturing industry here? I want to start a design business and export to North America. I have searched online and see there are associations and trade shows but not much about the actual costs and reputation of the furniture made in Singapore. Mainly, my questions are what the average costs are compared to other Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, as well as the reputation for quality in comparison to those countries?
Thanks!
Furniture manufacturing will be much more expensive in Singapore than elsewhere, due to very high rents, even for manufacturing facilities, high labor costs (relative to other SE Asia countries), and the expense of importing the necessary raw materials from other countries.
If there is furniture actually made in Singapore, I am unaware of it, as most construction will occur in surrounding countries. My experience is that you'll find two or three sorts of arrangements. The first, which sounds more applicable to you since you are a furniture designer, is that you have a captive manufacturing plant in Indonesia, Thailand, or perhaps Vietnam... maybe Malaysia. You search and find a local company in country that can build to your desired level of quality, then you supply the materials, handle import/export, etc. You've got maximum control over your product.
The next alternative is to find a custom furniture builder who will build to your specs with their materials. This reduces your materials sourcing efforts, at the risk of ending up with crappy woods... and there are no shortage of horror stories of wood problems, particularly if the furniture leaves the humid confines of Singapore and the surrounding area.
And finally, there are bunches of "custom" furniture builders in Thailand and Vietnam who will build to order but usually encompassing something of their own design practice into the product.
If you're serious about doing this, then a trip to Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam will be just about mandatory, IMHO, as it will give you an opportunity to see what the "state of the world" is like in the region.