After more than a century of tradition in the wood industry and the production of construction carpentry, Donji Vakuf produces furniture for the global and domestic market in facilities located on more than 35,000 square meters. Among the more than two hundred bed models, the organic bed occupies a special place, the first in the world in terms of its commercial production. Their goal in this noble story is not only to please the market, but also to secure jobs, preserve forests, and confirm the value of hand-crafting an organic bed that would eventually become part of the family heritage.
When they took over a failing company ten years ago, which until the war was a leader in the production of construction carpentry, with outdated technology and a small number of qualified workers, the situation they found did not give any prospects for success. After analyzing the market and deciding to produce furniture, they had two options: to invest in technology, for which they had no trained staff, or to start a completely different story with young people, who needed a job.
“Technologically, it might have been much easier to realize it through an investment and to go the way that most companies go, but we decided to try to turn the nobility of our man, our worker into one product,” says Ernad Smajić, Chief Executive Officer companies.
When they established themselves on the foreign market with almost four thousand beds per month, which are made of firewood, the production and refinement of which requires hands, not machines, they decided to realize their own idea of an organic bed, which was first exhibited at the fair in Cologne.
“The organic bed gave us the opportunity to be the first in the world to start commercially producing that product. “The organic bed is a combination of the nobility of the work of our masters, our craftsmanship and a return to nature, so that we are not cruel to it,” explains Smajić.
On the organic bed, each of which is unique and completely degradable, everything is natural, without any additives harmful to health, which is why it is increasingly in demand on the domestic market.
“This bed is a bit more complicated to produce because everything is hand finished on it. Production takes some time. It’s easy to install, two people can install it in five minutes,” says controller Ćilm Kišija.
And what is the ultimate goal of more than two hundred employees in production, which is fully rounded, is to change consciousness with their organic bed. So that it would not only last a lifetime, but also become part of the family heritage. And of course, they confirmed the value of the knowledge and skill of human hands that no machine can replace.