We were lucky to catch up with Raoul Benassaya recently and have shared our conversation below.

Raoul, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

The furniture I make and the business I operate are both extensions of myself. When people come into Classic Design and see the pieces that we make, I really want them to see that this furniture adventure that I have been on for the past 60 years is truly a representation of my heart and soul. I pour every ounce of myself into designing, making, and engineering my furniture, and thus developing the business as a whole. My company is my home, and a reflection of my values, my respect for the employees, and my admiration for the clients. I want people to be able to come into the workshop and see a comfortable and clean place to work – so clean that you could eat off of the floor. I want the clients to sink into ultimate comfort when sitting on an upholstered piece. I want people to see that the stitching lines are perfectly straight, that the wood finish was done meticulously by hand, and that the quality of the craftsmanship will allow the furniture to stay in families for generations. I hope that people will say that there is nothing like a piece of furniture made by Classic Design. And I hope my legacy of passion and hard work can help inspire other small business owners to achieve their goals.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My family has a long and rich history in the furniture and upholstery business. My mother and grandfather were both upholsterers in France, and I started my apprenticeship when I was 14 years in 1960 in a small industrial town in the center of France. After working in Paris for many years, I decided to move to America in 1984. My family and I settled in Los Angeles, and I opened up Classic Design in a very small garage space in Santa Monica. Due to my love of everything American when I was a young man, I grew a passion for mid-century modern American furniture. Therefore, I quickly developed a reputation around town as the French guy who could restore classic Knoll and Herman Miller pieces. The business grew from there, and we relocated a few times, from West Hollywood to Culver City. During that time, we started working with several interior designers and architects on various custom furniture and restoration projects throughout the Los Angeles area. Then, in 1996, we were awarded a large contract to work with Richard Meier & Associates and The Office of Thierry Despont on the new J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles. This was an amazing project, and it really pushed us into a new realm for the business. We then moved to a 35,000 square foot facility in Torrance. Such a space allowed us to scale the business into a more diversified clientele and project portfolio, in which we still remain today.

Today, our focus is primarily on custom furniture and furniture restoration for residential and commercial spaces. Our #1 focus is quality, so every bit of effort goes into making the highest quality furniture we can make. We do not believe in cutting any corners. We take our time to insure that each piece of furniture is respected and done correctly.

Due to our intense attention to detail, we allow our clients to bring to life pieces that most people can’t create properly. This allows our clients to make their projects unique, and give their end users truly one-of-a-kind spaces.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Yes, we manufacture all of our products. It took some time to develop the operation in which we could do everything in-house. When I started in my small workshop space in Santa Monica, I didn’t have the capacity to do everything in-house. I of course knew how to design and build a piece of furniture from scratch, due to my upbringing and training in France. However, my first space was too small to allow me to have all of the machinery and supplies I needed. So this forced me to put myself out there in the community and develop relationships with multiple vendors throughout the Los Angeles area. Then, as the business grew, I was able to incorporate more of the operation in house.

Despite this, we of course still have numerous relationships with vendors throughout the city. Our vendor relationships are crucial to our success. When you manufacture a product, you quickly realize that it’s impossible to do everything by yourself. You need multiple strong relationships to succeed in making a quality product.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Due to the nature and quality of the furniture we produce, our target market is very niche and specific. Therefore, the most effective strategy for us to grow our clientele has been through reputation building and word-of-mouth within the architecture and interior design industry. The industry is a little like the entertainment business. It’s a small world, and everyone is sharing information. Therefore, we take pride in developing a top-notch reputation within the industry as the place to go for the highest quality custom furniture and furniture restoration. We maintain strong and positive relationships with our clients, and let our products and services do the talking. As our reputation grows, so does our clientele.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.classicdesignla.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/classicdesignla/

Image Credits

Brooklin Rosenstock