Nov 12, 2020

Former employees relaunch Dessin Fournir furniture lines

Posted Nov 12, 2020 10:01 PM
Fournir Collections Baines Loveseat and Lodi Side Table. Courtesy photo
Fournir Collections Baines Loveseat and Lodi Side Table. Courtesy photo

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Four former Dessin Fournir furniture lines are being resurrected by three former employees.

The new company will move forward as Fournir Collections with the Gerard, Therien, Quatrain and Erika Brunson lines.

Amy Brown, Bill Caballero and Scott Hamel purchased the intellectual property rights, master drawings, prototypes, photography and marketing materials — including the website of the former furniture maker — from Bank of Hays about a month ago.

The partners purchased none of the inventory or showroom models from the former company.

Chuck Comeau's Dessin Fournir, which was headquartered in Plainville, declared bankruptcy in 2018.

Chris and Kelli Hansen, longtime employees, purchased the luxury lighting branch of the Comeau's DFC holding, Palmer Hargrave, at the end of 2019. That business remained in Plainville. 

The corporate headquarters of Fournir Collections will also remain in Plainville, Brown and Hamel's hometown. The company has not rehired any Plainville employees, yet. At its height, Dessin Fournir employed more than 90 people in Plainville.

"Our plan is to continue to get all of our systems in place and then when we will see where we are, hopefully, we can bring back some of those jobs that were lost from the closure of the other company," Hamel said.

"That is one of our main goals, but we want to do it in the right manner and in the right time frame ..." 

Fournir Collections London Club Chair
Fournir Collections London Club Chair

The work ethic in Kansas is strong, Brown said, and she she hopes to tap into that passion and help revitalize the local economy.

Manufacturing will resume in Los Angeles and the surrounding cities with the same artisans who created furniture for Dessin Fournir. Caballero will be coordinating production and said production has already resumed on a limited basis.

"It was really important to us to have the original artisans, who built the pieces, the furniture from back in the mid-'90s," Hamel said. "Some of those shops are still in existence. 

"It was important for us to reach out to them and they are on board to build the product and keep the same integrity and quality that everyone is used to."

The company will be selling online and through three of the former Dessin Fournir showrooms in San Francisco, Atlanta and Hollywood, Fla.

All three of the partners have maintained connections within the furniture industry since the bankruptcy, which they said will help them in relaunching the Dessin Fournir brands.

All of the partners had more than 20 years with Dessin Fournir. Brown and Hamel worked in sales, and Caballero worked in the production side of the business.

"These lines were family to us," Brown said. "They were a lot of who we were. It was really hard for us when Dessin Fournir shut down. There wasn't a time we wanted to get away from them or didn't want them to come back. 

"Instead of someone else getting them, why not us?"

After working so many years together, Brown said all three partners are all good friends. 

"It kind of turned into a fairy tale story and made our dreams come true, and here we are," Brown said.

Hamel said he has a passion for the brands and knew if the brands were going to be reintroduced to marketplace, he wanted to be a part of that. 

"When they weren't purchased, we said, 'Why don't we go after them?' 'Why don't we make the purchase and make the leap?' " Hamel said. "No one knows them better than us."

The partners said they want to restore the brands to their proper place in the industry. 

"We want to restore the integrity of the brands given their history," Hamel said. "We want to get back to making beautiful product and providing that to the design industry. We want to be a resource for the designers ... taking care of them is our No. 1 goal."

Brown said she is happy she can continue to work in a business for which she is passionate.

"It has a beautiful legacy that we are very thankful we are able to carry on," she said.

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