A Chat With November’s Profile, Mark Desrochers, co-founder/marketing director, Classic Designs by Matthew Burak (Text & Audio)

CS: What’s one big business mistake you’ve made over the years?
MD: Honestly, I have to say we haven’t made too many big mistakes. We’ve been lucky. Our product isn’t seasonal, it’s not perishable … some of the styles have been in fashion for 200 years. It’s durable goods. We haven’t had to deal with a lot of the vagaries of the consumers’ mind. We’ve been lucky there, and I think our timing’s been good.
There’s been a tremendous move towards outsourcing of production for woodworkers. For instance, there’s been pressures from Asia and other offshore manufacturers on the American furniture industry. One way for our customer to get lean and to get more competitive was to outsource. Instead of making their own table legs, they looked to a more efficient way to buy them in just as they need them. And that has worked to our advantage. So timing wise, I think we’ve been very lucky.