Although people sharing their lifetimes in a living space indeed creates a home, it looks incomplete without luxurious furniture complementing the space and comforting our loved ones in their ergonomically relaxing moments. Those searching to fill their lively personal, professional, and office spaces with affordable premium quality furniture will find their search ending in Durian Furniture.

Under the effective leadership of Mr Sajjan Dokania, Founder and the innovative perspective of Mr Somesh Dokania, Director of Durian Furniture, the business has flourished from scratch to strength with over 50 furniture stores, 8000 dealers, nine manufacturing units, a central warehousing and logistics arm enabling the company to deal with customers and clients across the length and breadth of the country. With a young motivated team of professionals, Durian Furniture has forayed into selling products online through www.durian.in and other e-commerce marketplaces.

In an interview with CIOLOOK INDIA, Mr Sajjan and Mr Somesh spoke exclusively, elaborating on their design, creative, and customer-centric philosophy at Durian. The highlights of the interview are given herein.

Please brief our audience about your organization, its USPs, and how you are currently positioned as one of the Ergonomic Product Solution Providers.

With humble beginnings and a growth curve that spans over 40 years, Durian Furniture has been built to create a one-stop solution for everyday spaces. Design that is classic in approach and truly timeless blends immaculately with functionality to elevate the Indian lifestyle adding a premium and luxurious feel to modern-day homes. Careful consideration towards artistry with a purpose ensures the furniture’s long-lasting impact. Built to create moments, Durian is an experience to be cherished over a lifetime.

We wish to craft unforgettable experiences with our products to enrich your lives. Durian Furniture combines the passion for client satisfaction with industry and business process expertise to manufacture quality products. Laying our first footsteps towards plywood’s wholesale and retail trade in 1981, we plunged into the furniture industry in 1985 to create beautiful spaces for homes and offices.

Here are our key USPs

• Unmatched Five-year warranty.
• Timeless and classic designs.
• Versatile and long-lasting.
• PAN India presence with 50+ stores across the country.
• White-Glove delivery by trained professionals.
• No-Mess Installation.
• Quality Certifications from the FSC, Green Guard, ISI and ISO institutes.

 

Today, Durian Furniture is renowned as one of the Ergonomic Product Solution Providers. Consolidating over 40 years of profound knowledge and expertise in crafting everyday spaces, we currently outshine as the pioneers in ergonomic furniture pieces, including sofas, recliners, office chairs and desks.

Tell us more about Durian’s offering and what makes it stand out in the cutthroat competition.

Durian Furniture offers a coveted collection of home and office furniture crafted with a blend of timeless design and ergonomic comfort. The range includes luxury sofas, recliners, beds, dining, storage pieces and ergonomic office furniture made from high-quality materials. The premium upholstery, including genuine leather, leatherette, nappa aire leather, fabric and mesh, promises a comfortable seating experience.

These pieces’ lifestyle features and mechanism takes the comfort up a notch. While home furniture is designed for everyday lounging, the office chairs and desks are mindfully made, keeping extensive working hours in mind.

Our latest offering of Do-It-Yourself Chairs is yet another milestone in convenient comfort. These office chairs have instruction manuals and guided videos for an easy five-step installation process. With the growing remote work culture, DIY chairs and other work-from-home essentials provide a respite from uncomfortable work hours and make premium office setups a convenient option.

Tell us about the immersive benefits of Ergonomic Solutions your organisation offers its clients.

The Durian furniture pieces synchronize with the customers’ needs to cope with emerging challenges and provide them with a five-year warranty, white glove delivery, free installation and easy payment. Moreover, our R&D unit focuses on seamless innovations in deployed machinery and raw materials for producing the end product.

Ranging from sofas and recliners to office furniture, every piece is carefully designed with premium quality materials to be durable and timeless enough to last you for ages. Our inspiring new furniture arrivals beautifully blend with every style.

With several designs, styles, sizes and material options, we are committed to providing a one-stop solution for ergonomic furniture pieces. Our catalogue comprises Durian factory-made and imported furniture with a variety of 1000+ products to choose from that will suit a multi-generational modern Indian home.

Here’s Why You Will Like It:

Unmatched Five-year warranty – Efficient and unique, our warranty policy covers not only the frame but also your sofa upholstery.

Ergonomic design – Our office products help maintain posture while sitting for long hours to maximize productivity.

Ideal seat height and depth – Designed with adjustable perfect seat height and depth, our seating is ideal for all generations.

BIFMA Compliant – Our ergonomic office chairs are BIFMA compliant with a robust testing process to ensure you receive the best quality products.

Breathable upholstery – Breathable premium quality upholstery ensures stress-free lounging that keeps you comfortable.

Comfortable stretch – Made with high-quality breathable fabric, our pieces are meant to keep you comfortable for long durations.

Smart Mechanisms– Tilt mechanisms, lumbar support, and more make our office chairs comfortably efficient.

Tested for Endurance– Numerous quality checks ensure that our furniture lasts longer through everyday stresses.

Long Lasting – Our pieces are made with high-quality materials that last longer through everyday uses.

Sustainably Sourced – Our furniture is made with raw materials sourced responsibly and ethically.

With the knowledge gained from years of industry experience, when someone purchases a piece of furniture, they create an experience, a memory. And it is these experiences we strive to create for our valuable customers. Our timeless creations are designed and crafted with a blend of form and functionality to enhance the modern Indian lifestyle. To help our customers live better, we invest in our people and resources, bringing new innovative ideas to life daily!

Being an experienced leader, share your opinion on how adopting modern technologies like AI and ML impacts the logistics sector and how your organization is adapting to the change.

We must stay in sync with the industry advancements and have the vision to lead the team. While the furniture sector remains majorly unorganized with the advent of e-commerce giants, the paradigm shift has propelled the major players to reach out to a more convenience-oriented purchase process for their audience. The emphasis is on specialization in terms of state-of-the-art technology, quality, materials, sustainable and scalable practices and global yet timeless aesthetics. As leaders, we welcome new technologies and updates to stay competitive.

Considering the current industry scenario, what challenges do you face, and how do you drive your organization to overcome them?

To remain competitive in the furniture industry, there are two constant challenges: maintaining consistent quality and service for decades and keeping up with the latest trends to stay relevant to the industry and customers. To address these challenges, we have taken a multi-pronged approach. With the help of our motivated team of professionals, we have expanded our sales channels to include online platforms like www.durian.in and other e-commerce marketplaces and a significant brick-and-mortar presence with over 50 stores. This approach allows us to offer their products to a wider audience while maintaining the quality and service standards they are known for.

What would you advise budding professionals who aspire to venture into the Ergonomic Products industry?

Our advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to stay positive and believe in your abilities and marketing knowledge. Stay confident and open-minded as you climb the ladder of success. Trust your decision-making skills and be willing to take risks. Throughout our journey, we encountered much scepticism at every step, whether it was setting up a manufacturing facility to global standards in an industry that relied heavily on imports or establishing a brand and offering value in an unorganized sector. However, it is important to overcome doubts and negative perceptions with positivity and strong belief in oneself.

How do you envision scaling Durian’s operations and offerings in the future?

Durian Furniture strives to gain more foothold in Pan India by creating multiple touchpoints for our customers in brick-and-mortar stores and experience centres. The goal is to become the country’s top most interior solutions provider. Growing the range of products and services offered and the brand’s online presence and performance is a significant endeavour for the upcoming years.

Awards

• CEO Insights – Recognized as one of the 25 most promising companies in 2018.
• Power of Trust – Recognized as India’s most trusted brand in 2018.
• Power Brand of the Year – Chosen by the Indian consumer as the Power Brand of India in 2011.

Certifications

• ISO 9001 – Implementing processes and procedures based on quality for increased efficiency.
• GeM – Government e-Marketplace – Providing transparency and lists various products for each category of goods and services.
• PEFC – Promoting Sustainable Forest Management
• FSC C095259 – Offering customers better value in terms of the origin of the material and responsible forestry.
• BIFMA – Ensuring the durability and dependability of the product for many years.

CSR Initiatives

Investing in our communities has always been and continues to be a cornerstone of Durian Industries. Their CSR initiatives celebrate people and spread happiness.

An initiative to aid the sociocultural promotion of society. Over 1000 underprivileged families were provided with furniture to get closer to a better lifestyle.

Health Camps

An active outreach programme that conducts health/medical camps across Rajasthan. The doctors provide essential treatments for various medical conditions.

Durian has actively conducted health/medical camps across Rajasthan. Over 1000 people get free access to medical drives per month. Below are the services provided by Durian.

Eye Check-up | Ortho Check-up | Dermatology Check-up | Gynecology Check-up | Dental Check-up ENT Check-up | Blood Pressure Check-up Diabetes Check-up | ECG | Cataract Operations.

Sponsorships

The foundation supports empowerment activities for the youth by hosting awards and sponsorships that enhance the quality of life for 500 budding architectural students and designers every year.