With UAFM’s partnership and friendly support, Nadia was convinced more than once, and fully confirmed it when the war came to Ukraine, and Hostomel, where the company “LIVING WOOD UKRAINE” is based, became one of its hottest points. It was important in the first few days to save families by taking them to safe regions. There was a choice of where to go. Offers came from western regions from colleagues in the association, and business partners. They chose the Rivne region, which was closer in distance. And all the assets – the office, warehouse, and equipment with processing products – were left in complete uncertainty, as they were at the end of the last peaceful working day.

The first few weeks were not about business – they only lived with anxious reports from the front. But in March, furniture makers mostly from western regions started calling, saying that they were working and needed Adler paint and varnish materials. So, while still visiting Rivne, they started slowly restoring their supply work. What happened to the left paints and varnishes in Hostomel and in what condition they were in, could only be guessed, so they turned to Austrian partners to send a batch of materials to Rivne and some of the necessary equipment. Moreover, there was a place to accept and store them – the company “Escada-M” provided free space in their warehouse. By the way, not only the people from Hostomel. Several other companies, and colleagues in the association, also took advantage of such charity hospitality. Also, it was nice to see how attentive and supportive the local authorities were towards them.

And only at the beginning of summer did they return home to the long-suffering Hostomel. The buildings, thank God, survived, but they were cut by fragments and the warehouse gates were found torn off. Water-based varnishes and paints were ruined by frost, and some of the equipment was damaged – some machines have not yet been repaired.

How did the Austrian parent company “Adler” support you in your difficult situation?

– Austrians supported us morally in the most difficult period. In addition, the “Adler” company gave us the opportunity, when we were outside Hostomel, to revive the business in not very favourable conditions by sending the necessary products and some equipment upon our request. They also provided us with equipment for free, and when we returned to Hostomel and came back with what we brought from Rivne, it turned out to be very useful. We received spare parts for repairing damaged machines from Austria, which also proved to be a significant help. For a while, we worked, so to speak, on two fronts: we shipped products to customers from Rivne, and in Hostomel, we put our own economy in order. Our Austrian partners were very surprised that we were ready to work in conditions that were terrible in their perception. Austrians allocated a certain amount of charitable funds to support our army. And it’s also important: they responded to our appeal call (such appeals were sent by UAFM to virtually all foreign partners of association members) to stop any (even indirect) cooperation with the aggressor country.

Could they, considering the current state of the Ukrainian economy, still sell you products cheaper than dealers from other countries that haven’t experienced the horrors of war?

– And Austrians did that. The discount is small – five percent, but we are thankful for that.

During the war, some furniture makers reoriented to producing products of the economy class, because that’s what the market needs. Have you, as a seller of high-end equipment materials, lost clients because of this?

– No, we haven’t changed our supplier of high-quality paint and varnish materials and continue to promote the products of TM “Adler” on the Ukrainian market, as we haven’t shifted towards producing cheap furniture and neither have our partners. Moreover, the demand for our furnishing materials is ever-increasing as more domestic furniture manufacturers become exporters. The fact that they use “Adler” paint and varnish materials to furnish their furniture is a testament to their high-class furniture-making skills and is a convincing business card for their foreign clients. Although this has not yet allowed us to reach pre-war sales volumes, we consider it a significant achievement that we have managed to retain a team that is ready to overcome all the difficulties of wartime to keep the company a reliable partner for our customers, as they have always known us to be.