TROPICAL LIFE
SAVORING SOUTH FLORIDA
The Herald
Sunday, October 29, 2000
Designing their dreams
By Jo Werne
A South Floridian has
earned a national reputation
for one-of-a-kind furniture.
Not all art hangs on the wall.
Some can be sat on, dined upon or used for storage.
The unique furniture created by a
South Florida designer doubles as functional art. Tables
with sunburst designs. Armoires of exotic woods. Chairs
with undulating shapes.
MICHAEL OGUNS
Michael Oguns' armoires are the equivalent of Ferraris,
his inlaid dining tables worthy of the Rolls Royce set,
and his desks would please a Mercedes-Benz owner.
But he would he delighted if Chevy drivers could own his
furniture. "I want to design affordable pieces for
stores, such as a line of chairs that would sell for
$300 to $400." said Oguns, 48, who named his showroom at
DCOTA Michael O. "I would like to be a household name."
Oguns believes many people appreciate fine design but
can't afford it. "There are a lot of details in my
pieces," he said, "If I can narrow them down and keep
the style there ... but I would probably have to have them
manufactured overseas to keep the furniture affordable."
Oguns' expensive designer furniture
— his coffee tables
range from $6,000 to $10,000 —
is handcrafted in a factory
on the edge of Miami's Little Haiti. He calls it his
'United Nations' because his 10 employees hail from many
countries.
His own home country is Nigeria, where as a youngster he
made wood bikes and bird cages to sell. He studied
structural engineering at Nigerian Polytechnic and came
to the United States in 1972. After three months in
Washington, D.C., Oguns moved to Miami and enrolled at
Miami-Dade Community College to study architectural
technology. He also took MDCC's two year nursing course
and became a licensed practical nurse.
After working as a nurse for five years, he had enough
money saved to start a furniture business.
Oguns oversees every detail of his work at his factory,
leaving the day-to-day management of his DCOTA showroom
to Susan Pyne.
"From my thoughts to my sketches to engineering to
manufacturing, I see to it all." said Oguns, whose
furniture collection has expanded to include upholstery
and lighting.
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"From
my thoughts to my sketches to engineering to manufacturing I
see to it all"
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