Interview with Havani

Emotion. I was always attracted to emotionally approached end-products. Meaning a car or a table. These are objects that enhance emotions and connections between people, generations and cultures. This is why I became a designer myself, to be a part of something bigger.

I chose to become a designer.

Emotionally approached end-products, such as a dining table.

Focus on the current market of your product. Make a thorough existing solutions analysis and market investigation.

I would say simplicity but as a matter of fact, this also depends on the type of market and type of business model, so i can't actually answer this.

Every visible line and form should offer functional purpose next to the aesthetic value.

The value can be a story, a USP, original technology or rare material. It can be many many things. I believe value should be created for the customer and / or user. If not, why do we further design in an already saturated market.

I would design beautiful and functional products for people that I know, and that will appreciate and utilize them.

Dreams come and go, life evolves continuously. I don't have 1 dream project that I want to design or realize.

product knowledge of the materials I use.

Pierre De Valck

Pierre De Valck cabinet and lamp.

The Papillon dining table. It's unique in multiple ways.

Investigate the market and the existing solutions. Create a proper Business Plan.

Management Consultancy

Function follows form and form follows trends.

My family and friends.

Not giving up.

Budgets, wrong prototyping, wrong partnerships.

With passion and a sales training.

More high-quality luxurious tables and benches for indoor and outdoor usage.

Build a succesful Furniture Design Brand and teach others how to build a brand once my brand is succesful enough.

They expect high standards.

People can enjoy it or not.

A very nice looking bench.

The Papillon dining table and the Marcello dining table. Because of the challenge to design tables like that.

Products that offer more value for the customers and users.

I cannot predict the future.

1 year to 1,5 years.

With an existing solutions analysis and market investigation.

Do it with passion or not at all.

Both are true.

Technology plays an interesting role when I design.

The software and equipment that is available to me and my freelance engineers.

The world is full of colors, I design with colors that act complementary. The materials play the biggest role in my designs.

Why did I design it in a certain way or or with certain materials.

At first I have a lot of admiration and respect for the designer. After that, possible markets and business models come into my mind.

I certainly believe in co-design. I like to cooperate with extreme talents. Extremely talented in technical architecture, construction engineering or on the other hand, people that are extremely creative and think extremely out of the box.

People with more experience than I had.

By practice and investigation

The actors of my al time favorite movies.

I am not famous at all but I appreciate all the awards and recognition I can get.

Blue, Italy, Italian, Spring, sharing food with loved ones and Porsche.

The slogan of my brand "Havani" is "Share a Lifetime", reflecting on durability and the life spent around the centerpiece at home (table). I was at Maison et Objet in January 2020, explaining why I think tables have something magical to it and I had one customer who was fighting in the Balkan war in 1992 and told me he understood me because he was the one always building tables with wood he found for his army colleagues.

With sales.

Everything and everyone will be numbered and tracked.

I love to have real conversations and I love to learn from others. When I'm the smartest man in the room, I believe I'm in the wrong room. Also, I always aim for win-win situations, keep all parties happy and aim for long-term relationships professionally and privately.

I've started this company in 2018, one year after my Business School education. The company was established to build the Havani brand. We wanted to start with dining tables and add add coffee tables and benches as followed. Furthermore, we focus always focus on the customer journey and experience. When clients visit our company, they are delighted with a tour and training about the characteristics of natural stone. On our site, we have access to the warehouses of our neighbour with 55000m² of natural stones. This is the best possible way to share our passion with our customers, when they visit us.

When all visible forms and lines, offer functional purpose next to an impressive aesthetic value.

Unique and original table frames.

The Havani Papillon Ellips dining table. It's amazing how I managed to create such a beautiful table that was never invented before. To make every leg dismountable and connect them so elegantly in a centered octagon that can be finished with the same material as the tabletop, was an incredible achievement for me. Furthermore the short table legs are assymetricly positioned compared to the long table legs, which was mandatory for users not to touch the frame with their knees allround.

The Marcello dining table for Havani.

Brazillian Quartzite because it has similar characteristics as granite with the looks of marble but without the disadvantages of it.

When I'm swimming.

Family, friends, generations, cultures, connections, education, tradition, pain and happiness.

Excitement of course.

When people want it and when they want to pay the price for it.

Function, stability, aesthetics and if it fits the current or upcoming trends.

Create something useful and durable.

I cannot say, i can only feel upcoming trends and trends evolving from thin to thick and from straight to slightly bowed and so on.

Maison et Objet 2020, next exhibition might be Biennale Interieur 2020 at Kortrijk, or Design September in Brussels.

I investigate the market and try to create a design that brings value to the market and to the end-customer. For example, with the Marcello and the Papillon dining tables, I've focused on bending thin steel sheets, as minimalistic as possible. In the market are many tubular steel frames, which are easier and cheaper. This way the craftsmanship difficulty, becomes a value for the customer.

Elegant, slim, neat, sleek, modern, minimal and simplistic designs. It's more of a challenge to make something strong and stable with minimal use of materials and therefore it's more of a value to the customer in my opinion.

Belgium near the creative city "Gent". I believe there is a great community in our country with talented design blood but above all, Belgium is full of small family companies that are now 3rd generation or more. These companies still specialise in a certain skill and material.

I involve my Business Partners in our Business Development. They are an integrated part of our Business Model and so must understand and follow our vision and mission. I make clear understandings and agreements and always aim for longterm cooperations, because only then you can serve quality to your customers and keep serving them quality.

I don't have that experience.

It starts with an idea, followed by a market investigation and trend investigation. Only then we start drawing and when a drawing starts forming potential aestheticly and functionally, I will start the engineering and prototyping process.

Of course our Marcello outdoor table and our Papillon indoor table. We have a coffee table with a unique Brazillian Quartzite and I love our design lamp from my friend Pierre De Valck. I also adore driving my oldtimer Porsche 968.

I wake up, shower, eat some bread for breakfast, go to the company, check my e-mails and agenda for meetings or deliveries, have a warm lunch mostly, have more meetings or deliveries in the afternoon and before I go home I try to do some marketing or checkin with our suppliers to follow up on deliveries. I go home and have dinner. If possible, I go swimming 2 times a week and once a week I play badminton and once a week I play squash. Sunny days I like to BBQ and see my friends.

Make sure you workout an entire Business Plan when they decide to market their designs. Too many fail to market their products (that are full of potential!!), because they lack Business Management skills. So my advice would be to find a trustworthy partner or hire a consultant .

no comment.

Less is more.

Think outside the box.

A freelance engineer, strength calculations, tension calculations, hardware: laser, bending machine, welding metals, corten steel, coatings, waterjet cutting, etc..

The designing fases are planned in a timeline, which is an integral part of the total Business Plan. That means I plan months of designing and prototyping in the timeline, to achieve a certain minimum collection. I keep other prototypes in the "freezer", to continue working on later in a next fase when 1) there is time available, 2) it's necessary to refresh the collection and bring new designs in the brand.

How did you do all this?

Executing the theoretical Business Plan of creating a new brand (Havani) of High-end furniture with luxurious materials.

Furniture shops, doctors, Business owners, Luxurious garden architects, interior architects, small offices.

Tables because a table is the only object that is at the center of a home and has the ability to enhance the connections between people, generations and cultures.

Build up a B2B dealer network with Havani samplesets and natural stone training.

I work with a team.

I have works-in-progress but I don't want to talk about it.

Via e-mail: frederic@havani.eu, or via Facebook or Instagram: "havanihi", or via whatsapp +32473982373