A brand is born
Launching a new green-luxury brand into the US has taken a big leap of faith for small, family-owned Christchurch business Tréology. Sandy Galland has their story.
Launching a new green-luxury brand into the US has taken a big leap of faith for small, family-owned Christchurch business Tréology. Sandy Galland has their story.
‘Massive’ is a word used often by Tréology’s founder Andrew Davies as he shares the journey of taking a concept and crafting it, systemising it and preparing it for its launch into the marketplace.
“There have been times when I have freaked out thinking of the tasks that lie ahead, but with the right team, the right mindset and a commitment to our dream, we will make this a huge success,” he declares.
Andrew and wife Melany-Jayne are the fifth generation of the Davies family to be involved in timber craftsmanship and are the owners of Davies Furniture, a prestigious and respected New Zealand maker of timber furniture. But they saw a bigger picture. They had a vision to take a slice of New Zealand’s natural beauty and present it as genuinely sustainable, bespoke, luxury furniture. This month they travel to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco to unveil Tréology to their target market – interior designers to design conscious, apartment dwelling families.
“We knew there was a powerful story to present to the world through our products. We wanted to provide an opportunity for these concrete-jungle dwellers to have a slice of natural, untouched New Zealand; a slice of history in their homes. Timber is a material that helps to ground us with nature, connect us with something bigger than ourselves. It brings a weight, texture, warmth, colour and lustre that cannot be replicated.”
Tréology’s philosophy is about accentuating the beauty of timber by showcasing its natural beauty. “We don’t design our pieces, nature does that for us. We simply appreciate the natural form of timber and craft each into a contemporary piece of enduring furniture,” explains Andrew.
The business only uses genuinely sustainable timber. While prototypes have been made from non-New Zealand timbers, all of which are from totally sustainable sources, the subsequent pieces will be crafted from native timbers. These are either naturally felled, through landslips and earthquakes and rescued from our lakes, the sounds of Fiordland, swamps and rivers – or native timber rescued from earthquake-ravaged buildings in Christchurch.
The first step the hardest
Early in 2011, after ten years of toying with the idea, Andrew made the commitment to bring the brand to life.
Step one was engaging business mentor Colin Clapp. “The task was massive. We started with the visioning – where did I want this business to be in 20 years, 15, 10? Then we worked solidly to create a two-page strategic business plan. It was about prioritising everything that had to be done and then breaking it down into three-month chunks,” recalls Andrew..
“To make this happen, we had to get started, that was the hardest part – just getting started. It has to be about progress not perfection. We continually prioritise between the urgent and important and always with our long-term goals in mind.”
The business strategy is anchored in the strong values Andrew holds for himself, and for his business. “This sounds easy, but when you try to put the things you value strongly into simple words on paper, it becomes difficult.”
The values woven through every part of Tréology are around respect for nature, excellence in craftsmanship and design, family, adventure and giving back – to the earth, the team and the community.
“Adventure is so important to us. We are lucky enough to live in one of the world’s greatest adventure playgrounds. A lot of the motivation for creating Tréology was to move away from making ‘vanilla-flavoured’ furniture. I wanted to create a product that would polarise people. You will absolutely love what we do – or you won’t. Getting to that point was a massive journey.”
Step two was engaging an advisory board. “This has been so powerful, not only does it hold me accountable, but we all know it’s lonely in business by yourself. It’s a place to bounce around ideas. I have over 120 years of solid business experience sitting around the board table – that is empowering,” says Andrew.
“You don’t know what you don’t know. To accept this and bring in other people – people with a diverse skill set, is the only way we saw to make this happen.”
Getting creative
Step three, was engaging a creative team. This consisted of a marketing professional, a graphic designer and a writer, who with Andrew and Melany-Jayne, conceptualised and brought to life Tréology.
“We started by sharing our values and dream for the company – at this stage it was an unnamed entity. We then did a huge amount of market research, and brainstorming about who our ideal client was, where they lived, what they did, what made them tick and what their family looked like. By getting a picture in our head of exactly who would buy our products, we were then able to begin to build a brand that would appeal to these people on an emotional level.”
Tréology [tree-ol-uh-jee] is a made-up word, invented by the creative team. It’s a combination of the words tree and genealogy, the latter referring to the heritage of the century-old trees used in the furniture and the generational designs.
Andrew describes the next step as all hingeing on discipline. “Up until the time of actually having a living breathing brand, a brand story and visual concepts, we could have backed out. But this made it real and made us even more determined to drive this forward.”
The time, resources and investments that have gone into Tréology have been immense. On top of Andrew’s commitment to bringing Tréology to market, he is still MD of Davies Furniture, ensuring this continues to thrive.
“I am so motivated and discipline has been essential. That’s been an empowering thing for my entire team. It has allowed those that want to shine and progress up the business, to do so. We have encouraged everyone to take ownership of their roles. It’s not easy stepping back when you have closely managed a team. But it has to happen.”
Once the creative team had woven their magic, and the Tréology brand concept was ready to be unveiled, Andrew and Melany-Jayne took the entire team away from the factory to share their plan and vision. “It was essential they all bought into it. As a company we have exceptionally strong values and it’s important the entire team are on the same bus heading for the same destination.”
During a planning session just before Christmas 2011, Andrew encouraged the team to be open and honest about their aspirations within the business, how they would like to contribute to the culture and what support they needed to get there.
“This was powerful,” he says. “Ninety percent of what they said aligned with my vision and strategic plan. So now the plan we have really is theirs – they feel like they own it. There is a clear path of empowerment, accountability, expectations and communication. We have put in place a regular performance matrix and the first four things we measure are centred around our values. Of course productivity and performance feature, but it is firstly about their attitude and commitment to Tréology.”
The lessons, challenges and wins will continue to come thick and fast, but as Andrew and Melany-Jayne head to the US to launch Tréology, they have every confidence the authenticity of their brand story, the quality and integrity of the furniture and designs, combined with their passion and hard work, will pay off.
Sandy Galland is a Christchurch-based communications specialist.
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