Jehz Sofas: A business built on family values
Jehz Sofas, a family-owned business based in Umhlanga, Durban
Jehz was founded in 2021 and provided an opportunity to bring the Manicum family's knowledge, expertise, and culture of excellence to the home decor and interior design space. Although Jehz Sofas is fairly young, the Manicums have a 25-year relationship with Home Fabrics through their successful furniture manufacturing business.
Quality and attention to detail are the top priority on the list of values held by the founders and siblings, Tamara and David Manicum, as Jehz Sofas seeks to revive an appreciation and a love for hand-made furniture. Tamara also shared with us some of the history between Jehz Sofas and Home Fabrics, why this business relationship is so important, and a shared passion for great design.
Q: Could you speak a bit about the history between Home Fabrics and Jehz and how that connection formed?
A: The relationship has been going for 25 years with our manufacturing company, Leighjer Designs. Fabrics are specified by interior designers and sent to us for the manufacture and covering. This became more and more successful as the years progressed.
Jehz Sofas was born to create a resource for our decorators/interior designers. This is when Home Fabrics noticed the potential and decided to give us as much support as possible. They love our ethos, our product, and most of all, they love how we convert their fabrics into beautiful pieces of art.
Q: What do you think are the key elements that have sustained the long-standing relationship between Home Fabrics and Jehz Sofas?
A: Service, service, service and excellence. Home Fabrics has a great product; however, you can have the greatest products in the world, but service and communication are the key factors in continuing to keep us doing great business.
Q: How do you see the interaction between fabric and furniture design? What role does fabric play in influencing the appeal and functionality of a piece of furniture?
A: Practicality and functionality are the fundamentals of fabrics and furniture design. Textures and colours are vital and makes a huge impact on choice of fabrics. When done right, magic happens!
You have to take into consideration that your furniture is really an investment in your, in your home, in your family. You want something that you can feel at home at, you can come home and you relax, and it's your style. Your furniture should suit your life and be comfortable, and we want to make sure that we give you the best product.
Q: In what ways do you think a wholesaler like Home Fabrics and a retailer like Jehz can best work together to elevate the experience for interior designers?
A: One-on-one customer service is what we aim to give every client that walks into our store. Our space offers a home base for decorators to bring clients in and show them how fabrics can be used to create pieces they can envision in their homes. We want our store to also be an inspiration for new fresh ideas and styles. See where design and functionality meet and where it can go.
Q: Considering the evolution of both Home Fabrics and Jehz, what core values do you believe have remained consistent over the years, and how have they helped shape your approach to business?
A: Everyone wants to be made to feel special. We don’t look at clients as just money but rather as an opportunity to be of service and offer products that will last you generations. We make sure that we are always evolving while trends evolve. Never fear to take on new things and keep your word and your promises.
Q: What are some of the challenges you've faced while maintaining the balance between upholding tradition and innovating for the future in your family-owned business? How have you overcome these challenges?
A: It's really been a journey because my dad started literally from scratch, and he's built this business up to be what it is. He's really old school - the pencil-and-paper type of man - and even our faith has played a huge part in where we are right now. To be able to achieve the balance between tradition and future thinking, we're always pushing each other and making sure that we're always on trend.
We're always out there looking at what's new, looking at what's trending, where we can take our business. When it comes to technology as well, we're wanting to make sure that we're on the forefront of those things and that also we make sure that it works for our business.
One of the most difficult challenges faced today is the lack of skill. Our trade and what we do is a dying trade. Everyone wants the glamorous job and not the ones that take hard labour. But, without hard labour, our bespoke items become just run-of-the-mill products.
Traditional ways of working with excellence is something we embody as a family and something we have pulled from our faith; this is what we try to bring into our store and our work space. We have great potential but it needs to be tapped into. More people need to be encouraged to work with excellent and initiative.
It's also about how we can provide the best service and we believe in our product. My father has taken many years perfecting what he does, and when people come in, they can see from the stitching to the foam. All of that is really precise. We make sure that what we do is done with excellence. That's sort of the core value that we want to keep. That excellence is something that is the golden thread through all we do.
Strong values for a great future
Valuing quality and excellence with a strong focus on making clients feel welcomed and supported is the recipe for success for Jehz Sofas. Their products are works of art that elevate interiors, and they offer a bespoke service that maintains tradition with a knowledge of on-trend design. To learn more, visit jehzsofas.com
