Shipping was taking longer and costing more. Tariffs added another reason to examine the numbers before approving a purchase.
We had a broker in Indonesia and WhatsApp on our phones, so we started looking at what else was available.
From the beginning, Ardelius was intended to support several brands: ChesterHaus, Grandifique, IndoAkar, Minxen, MorFurn, and Throne Source. Throne Source is our flagship, focused primarily on business customers. We intend for our designs, pricing, and service to earn their place in that market.
The other brands gave us room to pursue different merchandise. With shipping and tariffs increasing, products with potentially stronger returns deserved a closer look.
Container capacity also mattered. Every purchase had to be considered alongside what we could load and what it would cost to get it here.
We asked our broker to look for completed orders that other importers had canceled. The opportunity was to buy furniture already manufactured and available in bulk, without waiting for another production cycle.
That search led us to enormous suar wood tables.
The photographs and videos showed beautiful grain, heavy solid hardwood, and substantial pieces with the kind of presence that makes you reconsider everything else in the room.
We spent a considerable amount of time discussing the size and quality of the wood. We maintained almost professional standards throughout.
Almost.
We believe we found a gold mine. The appeal was the furniture itself: the material, scale, craftsmanship, and opportunity to bring something exceptional to our customers. A canceled order changes who owns a table. It does very little to diminish the table.
Of course, we were looking at it through a phone.
Buying furniture sight unseen from halfway around the world requires confidence in your broker and judgment about the merchandise. Photos and videos help, but they leave you several thousand miles short of running your hand across the surface.
We invested heavily anyway.
There was another reason to keep moving. When importers cancel orders, the consequences reach the people who depend on that work. Our broker has people and a family relying on the revenue he helps generate. We felt an obligation to keep him busy and keep business moving through his hands.
The purchases had to make commercial sense. We also cared about the people on the other end of the conversation.
We committed more money, purchased bulk inventory, and took a larger risk than we originally planned. We are confident that risk will be rewarded, and we know there is work ahead to make that happen.
The suar tables will begin arriving in our fourth container. By then, we will need a practical plan for unloading tightly packed furniture that includes 500-pound tables.
We may even read the instructions together before doing anything.
Our more immediate concern, however, was the first container headed for Savannah.
