At five in the morning on February 24 last year, the cars were loaded with furniture, ready to go from Khmilnyk to Kyiv for installation in the client’s apartment, but they did not leave the territory of the enterprise that day: they were stopped by the terrible news that shook the whole country. Anatolii Aleksieiev, the owner of the JOSEPH Furniture Manufacturer furniture company, has such a difficult memory about that morning last February.

And the next days of the war, although they were not as stressful as the first, could not be called easy. Production had to be stopped, workers left without work. Fulfilment of obligations to customers who had already made advance payments was suspended for an unknown amount of time because nothing was known at all – what would happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. The first two weeks were not their own, and not knowing what to do, what to do. Although the most dangerous phase of the war has not yet ended, it has already become clear that the enemy will not conquer the capital, so the only correct decision was made – and he is doing his own to us. They began to complete those projects that were interrupted by the war, although the customers were not ready to accept most of them, being at that time already outside the borders of Ukraine. And those that have not yet started were put on hold for three months at the request of the customers. These three months, when there were no new orders yet, and some of the pre-war ones were not started, turned out to be very economically difficult for the company. There was no furniture work – they undertook the development of new product samples, and involved people in better organization of workshops, territory, and workplaces, so that there was a reason to pay them at least something. But in the end, even when they undertook to implement the postponed projects – and several of them were quite large – they did not feel confident, because the clients could pay for the completed work in parts, which actually lasted until the new year. That is why there were delays in paying employees, but none of them could be reduced. And half a dozen projects in the capital that has already been practically finalized still remain unfinished: regular destructive shelling of the city, which began in the fall, scares the customers.

And yet, the company did not turn out to be financially insolvent, because already in the summer, new customers began to “vote”. And in the fall, we received such an order, which in terms of volume and cost exceeds all those that had to be fulfilled earlier – there are works for seven to eight months because there is not one project in the works. Although this contract was not unexpected for the company. As Mr Anatolii said, negotiations were held with the customer from Vinnytsia even before the war about the arrangement of his private house.

– The company rebranded a couple of years ago. What was the need to change the name?

– Not only names. We chose a new direction of specialization, abandoned the old models, and developed new ones. The English-language name was also necessary because the company took a course to enter foreign markets.

– And the war probably stopped this course?

– Oh no. Maybe it even speeds it up. We have completed appropriate training, and we are “probing” foreign markets, given that our furniture is not for cheap mass sale. Participation in the spring business trip to Great Britain organized by the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers will further contribute to this. It is known that project furniture, which is what we specialize in, is in demand in the British market.