The Garwendz Furniture Factory

Kwezed Garwendz was a carpenter in Samapol. He got the wood for the furniture from the local sawing mill. His wife Zana had family in Hveitsvar, and on a visit to his brother-in-laws furniture workshop Kwezed learned the same wood was cheaper in Hveitsvar. When his brother-in-law died, Kwezed took over the furniture workshop in Hveitsvar and shipped his furniture to his Samapol workshop, that mainly functioned as a shop now. With the heritage his wife got from her brother, they could buy their own ship and affort both workshops.

The fact was that the wood from Skaunsric and Sterrenbos was put into the rivers Is and Stainrhen so it floated down the stream to Hveitsvar, Samapol and Nieuw-Gamoor where it was bought by the local sawing mills. Because the men who steared and sold the wood had a much longer trip (and back) when they went all the way south to Nieuw-Gamoor, the wood was more expensive there than in Hveitsvar.

Kwezed now planned to sell his furniture in Nieuw-Gamoor. He already had a ship that navigated to Samapol, so why not any further? He could make a lot of profit if he sold his furniture in the largest city of Salamandran. However, most of the furniture was already sold out in Samapol, and the ship heading further south didn´t make any profit with the few chairs left.

It was his wife Zana who though of a prospect the citizens of Nieuw-Gamoor could pick their orders from, so they could make reservations for it. Kwezed saw the difficulties in the production process: all furniture should be rather identical to meet the expections of his customers. This could make the process cheaper, but he had to invest in machinery too. In the end he bought the sawing mill on the bank of the Is and had the saws adjusted in order to have the right size of wood for standard furniture. Now he could also buy the woods directly from the river, an opportunity to buy the best woods before his colleagues down the river could. The wood-sellers were glad, the sooner they could return to the forests, the more profit they could make. Many made an exclusive deal with Kwezed.

It was the time social housing in Nieuw-Gamoor was built in large amounts. The people moving from the rural area into the city didn´t have much money and the rather cheap furniture of Garwendz was what they needed. The standard was good enough and fitted in the small houses. The demand for cheap furniture increased fast.

Garwendz factory made standard frames for chairs, tables, chests and cupboards. It also made a variety standard seats, tabletops, doors, shelves and accessoires that could be combined with the frames. The elements where shipped to Nieuw-Gamoor where they were assembled in a large shed. From there, cars took the furniture to the houses of the customers, but they also could browse in a shop with the standard furniture to make an order.

The workshop in Samapol was used for custom-made furniture and storage. They received an order for a throne for the Duke of Hveitsvar. It was Garwendz twenty-fours anniversary, and he made the throne for the Duke as a gift. The Duke was pleased, but he wasn't aware of the fact that his throne was made of standard pieces of furniture. Kwezed later said it brought the noblemen closer to the people if they shared the same units of furniture.

Kwezed had one child, Tybhiz, who inherited the workshops, shops and factories. This child had two children, and the company was split: one inherited the workshop in Samapol and the shop in Nieuw-Gamoor, the other the factories in Hveitsvar. In 1770, a fire burnt down most of the Hveitsvar part of the company. In 1794 the factories were rebuild by the Samapol-branche, which had to deal with unsuccessful enterprises in Wymar and Pyrallis earlier.

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