For a lifetime product, oak tree is mostly on top of the materials that designers would love to appoint to their spiritual child. Opting oak for a piece of furniture is not just solely about product designing but also about telling a story where the design and production could cross path.

Oak is favored in furniture industry for its durability, sturdiness and beauty. An oak piece of furniture can last for a lifetime with the good resistance of insect and fungal. Because of such advantages, oak is used to build furniture in a wide range of styles and functions. That is also the reason why French designer JOACHIM POIRIER of UMA FURNITURE decided to tell a story of oak through his furniture collections.

In September, 2013, the project named COBRA was kicked off. Joachim had to solve the math of bringing a Scandinavian style furniture collection to match Vietnamese custom.

The project encountered several obstacles before it was successfully launched a year later. Reminiscing the time being, Joachim shared about how young designers should tell themselves, “In long a design project, you always have to keep your ideas fresh in mind. By doing that, you also help motivate the team and get the best out of them.”

Choosing oak as the main material for COBRA, Joachim aimed to a furniture collection where stunning design products are built to last. Frames and weight bearing parts are all made in solid oak wood which intensify COBRA products including dining table, dining chair and cabinets.

He also took advantages of the appealing wood grain of oak tree to enhance the design at its natural best for COBRA. Inspired from Scandinavian retro style, Joachim blew a gentle breath of modern into the collection to create a range of products where users can gain the most functional benefits in reality. The balance between different elements of each object was thoughtfully calculated to entirely express the elegance of lines and curves.

The Elliptic table is suitable with the chairs for elegant dining room

The core value in design of this collection is the efficiency of cutting down supplement to strengthen the functional aspect. Take COBRA dining chair as an example where back legs are directly attached to back rest. Joachim wanted to design a chair that just by its look, we know that it is dedicated to family and friends time. According to the French designer, COBRA dining table with elliptic top is a perfect match with the chairs to give a modern approach for your meal time.

Just like any project, this successful project of UMA FURNITURE did not come as easy as a piece of cake. Since oak is the top-notch material which could be transferred into high end products, the price is more than just difficulty. “The target was to have an accessible price so that more people can enjoy the beauty of oak.” said JAN-ERIK SVENSSON.

Erik & Joachim, two young talented designers of UMA

Being one of the core members in the team, UMA FURNITURE Product Manager JAN-ERIK SVENSSON had to deal with the commercial aspect of production. After one year in designing, finding and dealing for a suitable, all COBRA items were built and distributed all over Vietnam at a price point that can be reached by several users. “I remember, we were so excited about the final samples, yet scared that it wouldn’t follow our requirements, which are high quality products with affordable price.” Erik smiled.

Joachim and Erik had made a good team in which design ideas and production came across each other. They turned COBRA into a unique oak furniture collection in Vietnam where true value of design and function costs more than money. The team also worked on another challenging oak project for UMA FURNITURE called ATTILA with a range of 10 products. This collection was lately launched in 2015 even it was started before COBRA due to the complexity of the dining set construction. However, no different from COBRA, ATTILA is also successfully considered as a “value-for-life” furniture collection where oak is once again used to tell a story. 

The Attila Collection

Now is the time for being a member of UMA’s family, you will have chance to be a partner with two talented Designers Joachim and Erick by join “UMA Design Challenge 2017”

For more information, please click here then make a quick registration through this website: https://designchallenge.uma.vn/en/register.php to be exposed with extensive career opportunities, professionally trained in interior design and production.

Click here to see more of attractive prize of us

Submission deadline is on May 7^th, 2017