It's hard to say 'no'

Arne Christiansen, the Danish-born founder of the family-owned Woodmark International Furniture, at Wetherill Park, who has built a reputation since 1990 for supporting Australian designers by helping them develop their designs and getting their prototypes into production – often at a significant financial risk to the company.

“The most difficult thing is when designers come and you can’t take any more on – you feel so bad saying ‘no’”, he said. Woodmark has been flat out over the past few months with a multimillion-dollar order for Sydney-based Living Edge, another company at the forefront of promoting Australian design, which is poised to take Australian furniture design overseas with a new showroom in Los Angeles.