We climbed the stairs to the furniture. This can be said figuratively about the Transcarpathian company “Klen” because the woodworking business of the Lendel brothers began with the production of ladders from natural hardwood. At the same time, the company practised the production of furniture panels. And for their own needs and for sale. After a decade and a half, when the production of ladders reached a level that could make them of any complexity when the way had already been paved to foreign markets, the founding brothers decided to refocus their woodworking production on furniture. And since then, Klen has fully joined the powerful community of Ukrainian furniture makers. In 2019, the production of stairs was finally completed. The company has become exclusively a furniture manufacturer. Its peculiarity is that the furniture was made and is made from its own furniture board, having a complete, complete cycle of production – from procurement and sawing of raw materials to the production of furniture panels, and from it – furniture. And wood waste is processed into fuel briquettes.

The war that broke out in late February, thank God, did not hit the Klen with enemy missiles, but, like all colleagues in the furniture shop, had a significant impact. The production of furniture in the Zakarpattia region has not stopped but has become more complicated, as the company’s director Oleksandr Danko told us.

– The biggest problem today for our production is to provide it in a timely manner and in sufficient quantities with materials, components and accessories needed for the manufacture of furniture, to fulfil obligations to partners and customers. If the problems with raw materials, which prevented us from fulfilling our orders on time, are now, so to speak, largely solved, the purchase of imported accessories and other related furniture items is still difficult. Mainly due to difficulties with exporting funds to buy from foreign companies what we need for the production of furniture: banks require a lot of additional documents to make sure our foreign suppliers – “is there no Russian trace.”

Klen is a long-standing and experienced Ukrainian exporter that supplies its products to almost a dozen countries. Oleksandr believes that Ukrainian furniture now has better export prospects than it did before the war. According to the saying “There was no happiness, but misfortune contributed”. Due to sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus, foreign investors and furniture retailers will be forced to redirect their funds to other countries with developed furniture. Ukraine must be among them. New potential customers are still convinced whether Ukrainian furniture companies can be reliable partners in the current conditions. If they are sure, they will have a good chance to significantly increase their exports or beginners will be able to start it. You should not comfort yourself that this will happen quickly. And under more favourable conditions, from contact with a potential foreign client to concluding an agreement with him and supplying him with products sometimes takes a year or more.

As for Klen in particular, the company currently has no difficulties with its foreign customers and partners. They are constantly in touch, aware of the situation in the company, there is an understanding of the objective difficulties, and no one resorted to the termination of agreements. And all because the customers are old, with whom there is a mutually trusting relationship. And trust in partnership is the main thing. The situation in the domestic market is more complicated, there have been cases of clients refusing previously reached agreements.

The war imposed additional troubles on producers. To be more precise, they usually take them on voluntarily, because they cannot be patriotic and humanely away from the trouble that has befallen the country. Klen was not left out either. Thanks to its leaders, they were among the first to donate funds to the charitable needs of the volunteer headquarters established in the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers. And the company itself has become a volunteer centre in Transcarpathia. Oleksandr Danko said that thanks to strong partnerships with most foreign clients and suppliers, they managed to attract them to help Ukraine. They either produce their own or their partners’ products, or they donate the money either to Klen for charity or to charitable foundations in their own countries. A Lithuanian furniture panel manufacturer said that it had transferred one million euros for such assistance, specifically for the needs of the Ukrainian army.

– Does the company have small plans that are being hindered by the war?

– So. And very ambitious: they intended to double production capacity. Instead, we are trying hard to keep at least the current production volumes, processing 350 cubic meters of shields into furniture.