Dreams and desires
Charles Sutanto
Charles Sutanto spent 20 years in the IT industry before switching to the furniture business. He is the founder and Director of BWI, whose brands include Danish design-driven Hay, Montana, VIPP, &Tradition and Muuto. With a mission “to address the needs for modular, durable, innovative and sustainable furnishing solutions that cater to the users’ unique and personalised characteristics”, BWI’s impressive portfolio of clients includes Telkom, Apple, Microsoft and Unilever.
During an interview at Museum MACAN, Sutanto explains: “I made the change because I wanted to grow and expand as a person and as a business man. I think becoming an entrepreneur is an aspiration for most people. It’s the ultimate challenge to realise your own dreams. I figured it was better to try than not to. As the saying goes: ‘You cannot expect change if you keep doing the same thing.’
“Why furniture? Because I think we can make a difference in the industry. Indonesia has all the necessary resources to establish a formidable furniture industry, but so far few have dared to undertake the challenge.
“Further, furniture is a foundational element. Whether you are talking about office, home, public space, everyone needs furniture. It does not matter who you are, you will need furniture in whatever shape or form. As Indonesia welcomes its golden age, the demand for furniture can only grow.”
On how he chooses brands and designers to partner with, Sutanto says: “They must align with our vision to provide modular, comfortable, sustainable and have good design at affordable prices. These are the key elements we believe are fundamental to effectively serving a developing market such as Indonesia.
“At the same time, the best brands have collections that cut across the largest segments of the market. Whether you are a home or office owner or a public space operator, our furniture collections can certainly be a natural choice in
terms of product quality and the availability of five-year warranty. The high quality and durability of our furniture gives our clients peace of mind.”
Sutanto says BWI is now venturing into the retail market from a contractfocused base. “We are working with partners to open store-in-store concepts. We are opening in Grand Indonesia, working with (fashion retailer) Callie. At the same time, we work with Museum MACAN store to serve the West Jakarta market. Soon, we will open in South Jakarta - more details to come! These stores will be gateways to the BWI world of lifestyle.”
Sutanto says he and his team have their own way of working harmoniously with clients to address their needs. “We can’t be fortune tellers, for sure. The only way to understand our clients’ needs is to communicate with them, listen to their dreams, desires and aspirations. We must be able to listen when opinions differ. We can’t understand our customers if we are the ones who do all the talking. At the end of the day, we always need to listen to them.
“Our clients have diverse tastes, of course - different professions, different styles. A client like Gojek leans more towards a bold style for its office design and selection of furniture. The nature of their business means that their people need to socialise more to create ideas. A law firm is different, more conservative. Its style is more rigid. Luckily, we have collections than will serve both styles.”
Sutanto believes that the only way to compete successfully is to keep innovating. “That’s what encourages me to make a breakthrough with what we are creating right now,” he says. “We are developing an authentic Indonesian furniture brand called Cerita Design. The concept is just like the other brands at BWI - a multifunctional and multi-vertical furniture that can be used by the hospitality industry, in offices, anywhere.
“It is 100 percent designed by Indonesian designers and manufactured in Indonesia. Even the names of the products are from Indonesian words. The first collection can already be found at BWI, but the formal launch will take place next May. Cerita is Indonesian for ‘telling a story’, because we believe that there are so many stories of Indonesia to tell. One of them is by this new furniture brand.”