Resolve to furnish his home carves a furniture business

It was the need to furnish his newly acquired love nest that sparked newlywed Msizi Hlongwane to start something that would later turn into a booming business. Hlongwane, 25, moved to Johannesburg in 2018 to live with his wife, Zinhle, after she got an offer of employment there.

The couple is originally from Pietermaritzberg, KZN. Hlongwane, an electrician by trade, left behind his already established electrical business with the hope of securing new clients when he got to Jozi.

After moving to Johannesburg it was time to furnish their abode, and soon the young couple realised that what they were looking for was either out of their price range or was cheap and flimsy.  

“So when  I saw that, me and my wife sat down and started thinking what to do, and because of my background, I come from a trade background, I thought that, okay, maybe I can try to make some of the furniture that we needed. I felt that I should be able to make it and hopefully be able to save a bit of money, and then from there I made it and my wife liked it,” Hlongwane says.

A few friends and family members expressed their love for the furniture and he also made them some pieces. Through these interactions, Hlongwane realised that there could be potential for a furniture business. Thus, a Labors of Love was born, and now the business is a bespoke furniture manufacturer.  Hlongwane’s wife Zinhle is an accountant by profession but serves as a design consultant in the business; she’s been helping Hlongwane with design ideas from the start.   

Asked where her love for design comes from, the 26-year-old replied: "I'd say Pinterest, liking the finer things in life and just liking beautiful spaces. I’m always trying to make our home a homey place, if I could put it that way.”

The business is just under three years old now and based in Meadowdale, Germiston.  

Zinhle was the one who came up with the name of the business. “Everything is made out of love, it’s a labour of love from us to them [customers],” she says.

The company does have some ready-made pieces but works largely from custom orders. “We try to accommodate as many people as we can... so depending on your price range and what it is you want, we then choose material, the best material that we can get at that price so that we can make the best piece for you, at your price range. So someone can’t come and say I have R100 and I want a coffee table.”

Before the hard lockdown last year, Hlongwane employed one part-time employee, but they ceased operations for a couple of months and lost some business. When they reopened, Hlongwane says he was pleasantly surprised by the influx of orders and credits it to the fact that people are now looking at making their homes comfortable after spending so much time in them.  “People now needed desks to work from home and then with that, business started picking up again.”

Hlongwane also received a boost from coming in second place in the Brut Elevator Pitch competition. He received a R150,000 cash prize. “We were then able to get machinery and more equipment that helped our business grow even more.’’

Hlongwane says as of this month he will have one full-time employee to work with in the workshop. 

The couple got married young, and I ask what made them take this decision.

“For me it was just a matter of the right person and personally I saw no need to wait to get a bit older because I came across somebody that I really loved, and she had all the qualities that I was looking for; she was supportive, kind and loving. There was no reason for me to wait,” says Hlongwane.  

Zinhle shares the same sentiments as her husband. “We had been dating for quite some time and for me I didn’t see any reason to wait any longer, it was what we wanted even from the beginning of our relationship. I knew he was the one, it's  what I wanted and we were serious about each other and we wanted to start our lives together while we were still young."

Asked what advice the young couple would impart about marriage, they preferred to not refer to it as advice but rather something they’ve learnt. And that lesson is that when you decide to take the step towards marriage, ensure that the partner you choose should be somebody you share the same goals with, someone you know and who knows you very well.

“By the time we got married I could say wholeheartedly, I knew the person I was getting married to. I knew what made her happy, what didn’t make her happy, what upset her. I knew my partner really well before we got married,” Hlongwane says.  

Also communicating, being patient with each other, are keys to a happy marriage.

Quizzed about their plans for Valentine's Day, the couple say they don’t celebrate the day for two reasons, one of them being religious. “We celebrate each other all the time, we don’t necessarily set a day aside for it,”’ Zinhle says.