PRESS RELEASES

Furniture Style - May 2002
Open | Shut
My Company: Sweet Smiling Home, Los Angeles

My Background:
I grew up in Vienna, Austria and I've lived in Japan and Columbia, South America, too. In college, I studied philosophy and Spanish literature. Initially, I financed my life by doing architectural drawings. Drawing comes naturally to me and I have always been interested in the arts which is why I got into furniture design.

When I first came to America 11 years ago, my wife and I opened a retail store. We incorporated one-of-a-kind Indonesian imports with the traditional American furniture we found at flea markets. Back then, Indonesian furniture was still exotic, now it's mainstream. About four years ago, we began to develop our own furniture and had some workshops built in Indonesia.

My Company's Name:
"Sweet Smiling" doesn't make much sense in English. It's an Indonesian expression. For instance, if a beautiful woman smiles at you and she has beautiful teeth, then she's "Sweet Smiling". In other words, if you're looking at a nice chest of drawers and you find that it's well constructed then you can appreciate the beauty of the piece on another level.

My Materials:
For the Indonesian furniture, our main ingredients are teak, rattan and bamboo. We use exotic woods for inlays. For the China collection, we use mostly birch - a local wood that's readily available and takes stain well. I would also like to use more metal and iron.

My Challenges:
One of the biggest challenges of working overseas is dealing with the different cultures. In Indonesia, we will have a smooth production run for 10 months. Then the workers stop to honor Ramadan, a fasting period, and all production stands still for six to eight weeks.

My Inspiration:
Sometimes ideas come from just sitting and doodling. I am also inspired by 20th century design. For example, one of my chairs is basically a version of Le Corbusier's Grand Confort. My challenge was to make a cube-shaped chair with a rattan frame rather than steel tube.

What's next:
I am developing a more traditional birch bedroom collection that'll be part of the China collection. People have been asking for something in a darker finish. Right now, we're building an 8000 square foot showroom next to our warehouse in Los Angeles.

Three words that describe my product:
Modern, functional, solid.

Three words that describe me:
Ambitious, thoughtful, visionary.





Furniture Style - March 2002
Home Sweet Home
The San Francisco Winter Market hosted several new exhibitors in January including Sweet Smiling Home, a Los Angeles based company that sells product manufactured in Indonesia and China. Sweet Smiling Home offers everything from bedroom furniture and dining sets to upholstery and lighting. Created by designer Uwe Korak, the furniture is constructed of materials such as leather, bamboo, teak (recycled and plantation) and other woods. The styles are contemporary, rustic, tropical and traditional. Korak said, "functionality" is key to the designs but they're also quite eclectic. "I want everything to have a twist".

For example, the company offers an all birch chest of drawers without sides or backs. Bamboo drawer fronts in one bedroom collection are another Korak twist.

Sweet Smiling Home maintains a permanent space at the L.A. Mart. The company's products are sold by retailers across the country from Seattle to New York.