Malaysia Needs Stronger Identity For Its Furniture

By Christine Lim KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysia needs to establish itself as a producer of furniture products with a stronger and unique identity in order to be competitive in the global market, says an industry player. Klaus J. Kummer, a renowned German artisan and designer, said Malaysian furniture designers needed to look at new ideas and innovations as well as other resources such as palm wood. Kummer, who is also the president and chief executive officer of KDT International Co Ltd, his design studio in Bangkok, said Malaysians had the talent, expertise and government support but needed to expand on their ideas. Speaking to Bernama at the sidelines of the ongoing Malaysian International Furniture Fair here, he said most local manufacturers were quite generic, with no particular identity as these products could be manufactured anywhere in the world. "Malaysia is no longer in a position to provide low cost products as low cost products have moved on to other countries, and it needs to add some new and innovative elements to the furniture to be able to sell at higher price. "The global markets are constantly looking for new concepts and choices and Asia is becoming more and more interesting as an alternative in terms of fashion, lifestyle, culture, new materials," he said. -- BERNAMA