Childhood friends Henrik Bruun, 36, and Jacob Munch, 35, had always dreamed of starting their own business. Jacob is a qualified joiner, and when he travelled around South America for two years in the late 00s, he spent some of his evenings designing. His pastime led to the founding of Bruunmunch Furniture:
“I learned to draw simple plan elevation drawings when training to be a joiner, which I used to design a range of coffee tables. When I came home, I showed my designs to Henrik, who luckily was game for starting something together.
” The company was registered in 2011, and now designs and manufactures dining tables, sofas and chairs in addition to the original coffee tables.
“We really had to 'learn by doing' along the way. That cost us a lot of money sometimes, but was also a really healthy process.”
Jacob Munch
Danish-made at seven different factories
All Bruunmunch Furniture products are made in Denmark at no less than seven different factories specialising in steel, concrete, wood, chairs, sofas and shelves.
“We really had to ‘learn by doing’ along the way. That cost us a lot of money sometimes, but was also a really healthy process that gave us a lot of experience and a great understanding of how to run this type of business. I think we are now well in control of the various processes from idea, through design and material specification to prototype, modifications, production, sales and marketing,” claims Jacob, resident in Hjerting, north of Esbjerg with his wife and four children.
Aiming for high turnover
The business now has dealers in almost 20 countries and has turned over a total of DKK 20 million. There is still no hiding the west Jutland roots of the owners in their modest pride after
winning the Gazelle Award in 2017, given to healthy, fast-growing businesses:
“It was wonderful to be acknowledged as an expanding business. But it’s not really anything to get excited about, as for us the bottom line is most important.” Jakob and Henrik are currently
working towards an annual turnover of DKK 20 million by 2021, putting a range of initiatives into effect: