A FurniturEvolution: from "bamboo beginnings" to today's furniture industry leader.

Bamboo beginnings

"Kwalu" means 'bamboo' in Zulu, and African language. As a building material, bamboo has many incredible properties its resilient, flexible, durable and ecologically sound. It was therefore a fitting name for our company, founded in 1987 in Cape Town, South Africa. Known in the early days for manufacturing patented polymer seating with a rustic feel, we even marked our furniture to make it resemble bamboo! The resilience of the furniture was due to a combination of the high impact resistant finish, and the steel reinforcement in all the joints. This gave the furniture its flexibility, allowing it to absorb impact and redistribute the stress across the entire frame of the chair.

Our early successes were prompted by our founder and CEO, David Horwitz, whose peculiar combination of skills and interests found their perfect fit in our product. A former biochemist who had worked in the textile, construction and healthcare industries, having created and run a network of private hospitals in Southern Africa, Horwitz was ideally placed to envision the potential of this product.

The unique advantages of our early furniture were noted by the healthcare industry in the United States. Not surprisingly, dining and lobby furniture that was waterproof, fire-retardant and scratch resistant was highly sought after. When we added the industry's only 10-year warranty on construction and finish to the mix, we knew we were on to something.

New roots

With the majority of our orders coming from the United States, we decided to move all of our manufacturing and assembly to Ridgeland, South Carolina in the mid-90's. Responding to the increasing requests from our customers, we created a full range of Duraframe furniture for all areas of health care, hospitality, government institutions and educational facilities. Our newer ranges feature timeless traditional designs, sophisticated transitional styles, and chic contemporary collections. These newer styles feature all the resilience and strength of the early designs with a twist of refined elegance.

The green future--an ongoing evolution

The past few years have seen us celebrating numerous successes. We have doubled our manufacturing capacity, adding a new factory to cope with the demand for durable casegoods, tables and table tops that share the low-maintenance qualities of our seating. To Duraframe by Kwalu, we've added Duracase and Duratop, and the Duragroup companies are set to grow with the introduction of handrails and wainscoting in the next few months. Our focus on environmental concerns, our emphasis on staying at the forefront of technology and our innovative mix and match designs have made us the industry leader in comfortable, durable furniture. Visit us at www.duragroup.com for more information on how to join our furniturevolution.

146 Woodlawn Street | P.O. Box 1870 | Ridgeland, SC 29936 | 800-405-3441