Maku debut's on MTV's "The Real World"

Check it out, The new Season of MTV's "The Real World" debuted tonight. Filmed in Hollywood, the 20th Season of The Real World is focused on eco living and sustainability. And of course what other furniture company than Maku Furniture would be involved!

Tonights episode had lots of really good shots of the Maku Sectional, Maku Bench, Maku Chaise, and Maku Lounge Chair. The set and design crew @ MTV did a great job in placing all the Maku pieces throughout The Real World set.

Some people might question why Maku would be involved in a show that focus's on young 20 somethings "finding" their way through life with strangers in front of a camera but this is exactly the kind of non traditional approach to the world of home furnishing that we like.

Yeah Keir , 1st place Nippon Open!

Way to Keir, 1st place at the Nippon Open in Japan!! Sweet! Keir of course rides for Maku Furniture, Burton Snowboards, Gravis footwear, a bunch of other cool companies, and is a Carlsbad loc!

Check out all the results and good stuff here.

Somebody is getting it!

I've been meaning to post this for a while and just now getting around to it. Thomas Prais is the editor of Furniture style magazine and a while back he did a great little article on marketing to a younger more affluent and vibrant demographic. Of course this article included some commentary on Maku's strategy and a few quotes by your truly. In the world of Baby Boomeritus old school furniture marketing it was refreshing to see that Maku's strategy was starting to resonate!

A few months later he followed it up with a small online piece talking about the power of email / electronic communication as a form of branding. Those of you industry types that are on our mailing and get our newsletter know what I am talking about.

Here is a link to the online story that Thomas wrote

And here is some brief commentary at the end of his segment. Thanks for the great words Thomas it is refreshing and I am really glad that what we are trying to do is starting to resonate in a fairly stagnant old school market place!!

Thomas 2.0 Responds: I think Maku has put together a pretty smart marketing strategy. Other than, perhaps, at the very highest end of the furniture price spectrum, the furniture industry seems to be highly committed to hobbling along with small marketing budgets, and advertising strategies from the 1950s. Most furniture marketing seems to be flyers and commercials featuring uninspired product shots and a promise of low, low prices. Which I guess is fine, IF the key to commercial success is waiting for a consumer to decide she wants to buy something and then making sure she knows that your company sells that said something, and IF she even notices your commercial sandwiched between their favorite TV show and far more compelling, entertaining commercials (and that’s assuming she doesn’t TIVO past commercial breaks entirely). What I like about Maku, which reaches out to Gen X and Y consumers, is that they’ve picked up on this lifestyle branding thing pretty well, going out to Extreme Sports venues, sponsoring competitions, etc. In other words, they’re connecting their product with something their intended audience cares deeply and passionately about (and, in this case, the consumerrs have the scars to prove it). If your selling something to sit on, I guess a price story is the only one that makes sense. But if you can transform your product into the locus where a consumer’s life intersects with her desires, passions and self-image, well then you’re creating desire, not just waiting for it to happen. I don’t think a lot of people in the industry understand how important brands are in the lives of my generation (I’m a Gen-Xer). I don’t particularly like that aspect of my generation, but there it is. We Gen-Xers carve our identities out of the stuff we buy. We Gen-Xers love our IKEA, our Starbucks, our J. Crew. When we get together we talk about the stuff we’ve bought and how great (or awful) a brand is. Shopping becomes our master narrative, consumption is how we change the world. So we especially love it when a brand is associated with things we either (a) care about or (b) like to think that we care about. In addition to its Extreme Sports angle, Maku also associates its brand with art, travel and saving the environment. I think they’ll do well in the long term. Thomas 2.0, Furniture Style Magazine 12/20/2007 at 10:50 AM

Global Green party update

sorry, no pics yet waiting for them to arrive from some of the photog's and like a knucklehead, I forgot my little digi cam in the car...

But, the party was pretty cool and for an amazing cause over $420,000 was raised! There were a lot of A list celebs chilling on Maku pieces from Sophia Bush, Selma Hayek, Penelope Cruz, and Molly Sims (all ohhh so hot!) to Oliver Stone, Bill Maher, Adrian Grenier and I think I saw Pete Wentz or an emo look alike.... :) from Fall Out Boy, yeah Pete way to get your green on!

All in all it was a super fun event and we were privileged to be involved with Global Green, Vernare, Cisco Home and all the other great sponsors of the party. Oh and by the way, my favorite brewery New Belgium was dolling out some great Mothership Wit that made things that much better!

Here are a few clinks with some added coverage of the event.

Click Here

Click Here for a few pics of celebs and Maku pieces in the background or on them

Click Here

5th Annual Global Green Oscars "pre party"!

Getting ready to head up to LA for the Big "Global Green" pre- Oscars party tonight. Oh no, what am I gonna wear...! I don't think my typical flip flops and shorts / t shirt is gonna cut it...

Maku totally dialed in the Spider Room at The Avalon with a bunch of cool pieces like our sectional and lounge chairs in conjunction with our ultra hip West Hollywood retailer Vernare for all the VIP's to chill on.

Should be a fun night for a good cause and I will post up some pictures tomorrow! In the mean time here are a couple of links with info about the event.

click here and here for more good stuff

Hurley -"sound and vision" Vol 2

Check out this amazing video that the crew over at Hurley put together featuring non other than the Prince of Bali and Maku Lifestyle Ambassador - Rizal Tanjung.

Click here to see the Video

Riz is sponsored by Hurley and this is the 2nd installment in their Sound and Vision series. We'll have the videos up and available for viewing on www.makufurniture.com in a couple of days. In the meantime, ENJOY the sights and sound of Bali firsthand with Rizal

Do you feel lucky punk? Well do ya...?

Dirty Harry aka Clint Eastwood weighs in on Trestles. Check it.

Eclectic Home - Portland

In any retail sector, there are going to be slow times because of the economy or maybe because it was a bad snow year (hearkening back to a few of Johnny's former employers). The smart retailers will always survive though and Maku likes to think we work with only smart retailers.

Have you ever heard of Eclectic Home (www.eclectichome.com) in Portland?


Dennis, EC's owner, is one of those guys that gets it. He doesn't just put an ad in the Portland Oregonian and hope people come buy furniture. Dennis thinks differently, he wants people to associate his offerings and store with a lifestyle and passion. Maybe you don't surf like Johnny does, but it doesn't mean you lack passion for life.

Dennis has done a lot lately to help his store and promote the Maku brand. Last month he setup the eco-lounge @ Portland Fashion Week (www.greenlivingonline.com/HomeGarden/lounging-in-style-at-portland-fashion-week).

This month he sponsored a single-speed bike event (http://eclectichome.blogspot.com/2007/11/single-speed-lounge.html), in addition to his new Web site.

Know what's even better? He's blogging about it all right here .

Just a couple extra hours a month in time (not everyone has to hire the over-paid BBPR (www.bbpublicrelations.com) like Maku does ;-) and Dennis is transforming Eclectic Home from a store to a community.

Even if you're not looking for home furnishings right now, just pop into Eclectic Home while you're cruising Portland. Dennis is a super friendly guy and his team there will make you feel at home. You won't need to purchase anything to feel good when you leave (although you may come back later to do just that).