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I think if you read their 2008 annual report page 7.. TT Intl website it says TT International acquired Novena. "Furniture and Furnishings" is a division under TT International. I guess the best thing is to go to SGX website to do your research.

Check out their Website: Website

Went down to Furniture Club at Furniture Mall looking for some leather sofas. I found the sales person is not very honest about several things.. They claimed that their Leather sofas were high-priced because they use Mastrotto leather and even claimed that they were the only ones using Mastrotto Leather in Furniture Mall. After walking around, I eventually found out that other shops like Lorenzo and Cellini were also using Leather from Mastrotto. Also, they added many other points to discredit their competitors, which I find very unethical.. They claimed that since Lorenzo's sofas are made in Malaysia, therefore it is inferior to their Sofas which is made in China. The only reason I can think of, why Lorenzo is cheaper than them is, Lorenzo is a large manufacturer, while Furniture Club buys their stuff in small quantities (that's why you can even customise the size) from suppliers in China.

St Louis has a showroom at Furniture Mall at Beach Rd, 3rd level. I generally find the sales people quite helpful. Worth a visit.

Wondering if you guys received a mailer recently? Cellini is selling Nightingale's Latex with pocket spring mattress for $999..

Hi fellow forumers, I am a regular contributor in several forums including shareinvestor, Singaporebrides and other car forums. Often I have come across many such threads where one complaints about a company they are not satisfied with. Some of which I believe might cause potential loss of reputation. I am just curious to find out if such complaints have any legal implications? any legal experts here?

Just went down to the IFFS 2009 at expo, saw alot of nice designs. Just want to inform all that they are open to the public on Thursday afternoon for 2 hours. Think you can get some good bargains as they are all manufacturers.

How we know if they are indeed manufacturers? - Well, the guys registered under Singapore Mozaic are all manufacturers.. in 2 two weeks time there will be the International Furniture Fair IFFS, and these are the guys who will be there. Besides retail, they also do exports. If they sub-contract, they cannot compete in the international market - i mean, just look at the number of Chinese Manufacturers I am not saying that a manufacturer is 100% safe - even Lehman Bros can collapse.. What I am pointing out is the risk of buying from retailers who do not have any fixed assets. In troubled times, they can simply dissolve their limited liability Company, without losing any assets. They can simply 'hybernate' and wait till better times, register the new company under another brand and it's as simple as that. We have already heard from renotalk forums so many of such cases of unscrupulous retailers who run after taking deposits. So just to warn fellow forumers, be careful.

Couple of reasons why you should buy from reputable furniture manufacturers: 1. After reading the 'Mesin Furniture Thread', I sympathise those who had fallen into the trap laid by these fly by night retailers. Alot of these retailers do not have assets(eg. Factory Building, Fixes assets, inventories etc) to back them - hence, they can just deregister and run away, when in financial problems. If you had placed your deposits with them, you probably won't get it back. 2. Retailers by and sell - they don't manufacture. Hence, they will mark up the cost by another 50-60% to remain profitable. Its more cost affective to buy DIRECT from Manufacturers! 3. Manufacturers can give you better quality and defective units can also be replaced faster. Imagine for those retailers who buy from oversease manufacturers, should there be a defective piece, how are they going to replace your set? They will lose money from that transaction. 4. Retailers can't control delivery lead time - in times of crisis, most retailers don't have the cash to keep stock. When you place your order, they have to consolidate a 40 ft container with their supplier, and this might take a month. The supplier will take another 3-4 weeks to produce and shipment to singapore another 1-2 weeks. So you can expect you shipment in 8-10 weeks! Now, who are the reputable Manufacturers? Just to name a few : Lorenzo, HTL International, Cellini Design, Sitra, Scan Teak etc.. you can also find the list at the Singapore Mozaic Website: http://www.singaporemozaic.com/mozaic_cms/...z&Itemid=19

I got a friend who's constructing a detached house on his plot of land. Half way through the construction company folded (becos one of his major project, developer couldn't pay him). You know the good news is my friend was amazed with the new quote from the new contractor - all the prices has gone down.. only if he had waited a couple of months... I think during this time there is always risk of companies folding - so when buying furniture, better deal with more established companies. the number of 'fly-by-night' deals has been on the rise - especially those who set up exhibitions and don't really have fixed retail outlets.. You know the funny thing is Toyota and Honda are manufactured in Thailand and Indonesia - and their prices are still higher than some of those 'made in Korea' cars... doesn't make sense right? Toyota can't go on retrenching... they are so cost-efficient already - the next phase I presume would be to work their margins in order to get their volumes sustainable.

Our government has just announced the worst recession ever for Singapore in 2009... we have seen property prices and car prices coming down very fast - but furniture prices still very high! Being in the finance industry, I know that raw materials like steel, leather and petrochemical have seen their prices dropping very fast, but leather sofas seemed as high priced as ever... To be honest, I'm quite a 'cheapo'- always looking out for big bargains, and I refurbish my place once every two years.. but my budget is relatively conservative - I won't spend more than $2K on a set of sofa or more than $1K on a pc of mattress.. I was looking for cars at Leng Kee road and was told that while cars are cheap now, we can expect some 'dumping' in the months ahead - Toyota which has seen their sales dropped drastically, would definitely be priced very competively to 'fight' their lower end competitors like Hyundai and Kia. I believe they would be cost efficient enough to lower their price to a Hyundai right? I'm sure Toyota has alot of margin room to play with.. Most SMEs today has over stock and cashflow problems - look at Royal Diamonds... In order to get cash fast, I'm sure these guys will dump prices to pay off creditors and prevent bankruptcy.. So we would probably see quite good buys around. Same for furniture, I expect prices to come crashing down soon... Already there were a few casualties, furniture retailers are already suffering a slowdown in November 08, as reported in ST, shop space rentals are coming down, there are also casualties - owners of TT international (which own brands like Castilla, Novena, White Collection and Natural Living) have already filed for bankruptcy protection, as you would have read it in ST. Some lesser know brands are also affected. With most SMEs companies struggling for survival - I can expect the post Chinese New Year period would open a whole new portal for bargain hunters. Why buy now, when you can get it at dirt cheap prices later on?

Bath towels at 2bucks! too bad I did not go down, else I would grab a dozen which would last me couple of chinese new years! by the way 600 threadcounts fitted sheet for $35 - that's good value... maybe I have lost touch, the beddings market has really gone very competitive!

You mentioned that your cousin bought a mattress from Cellini.. do you know the model name? wonder if your cousin has any reviews on it... I am thinking hard whether to change my mattress as well..

Is it really 'Silk' or cotton using 'Sateen' (not Satin) weave... Silk for $100+ is very cheap... btw, I realised aussino's prices are not very cheap, if robinsons or taka got promo, you can get very high quality beddings at very affordable prices - if you wait for after Chinese New Year - sure got clearance sale!

I had tried out Nightingale Mattress at one of the cellini store - was told there was one with visco foam and one with latex. Do have any idea which is better?

Talking about expo sales - those furniture expo is really getting very low standards. I remember they used to have good shows at World Trade Centre a decade ago, but ever since the shift to Changi - the shows are really dissapointing..

Good quilt is a good investment - I bought from Taka - think it was a 600 thread count - super comfy.. good duvets will put you off at least 150 bucks... but its worth every cent..

you know the irony... when I was in Taiwan, I visited a Natuzzi store (by the way, they are the largest sofa maker in the world). Natuzzi is an Italian brand... but what I truly admire was their honesty - they mentioned some of their leather sofas are manufactured in China, even though they have manufacturing facilities in Italy. So the Italians themselves are saying they are made in China, while the rest of the world claims their sofa is made in ITALY..

Well Said... I think for all these renowned brands the main bulk of money isn't into R&D (I mean, mattresses doesn't really need rocket technology and definitely is not as complex as car or electronics manufacturing).. most of the margins goes into branding and advertising and not forgetting the 40%-50% commission they pay off to retailers! So the cost of the actual mattress is probably less than 10% of what you are actually paying..

I happened to be browsing a couple of furniture outlets for some mattresses and sofa. Most of these shops claimed their Sofa was imported from Italy, Germany and Europe.. while mattresses were made in USA, UK etc.. After doing some research, I realise that most of the sofas unders $4K, were made in either China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.. Even Singapore is too costly to produce! So I'm wondering how these claims of being made in Italy be believable? I think CASE should step in to stop such misrepresentations. My word of advise to potential buyers - beware!

My sis bought a home package from Cellini last month and they included a Nightingale Mattress. She found the mattress more comfortable and has more support than her old "KXXX XXXX" mattress. I am personally thinking of purchasing mattress, after I find a way to get rid of my old mattress By the way, do you really think all those "branded" mattresses are manufactured in USA, UK or Europe? I heard they are all OEM in Malaysia, China, Thailand and Indonesia...

did they include Simona in the home package? I was eyeing that, but I tot the Simona was not in the package..

My boy was exclusive BF for about a year, I am now thinking of putting him on formula (Nan Stage 3)... but I'm wondering if freshmilk is better or formula? any of you moms give fresh milk to your year old kid?

I recently bought some flash cards from GDbaby for my year old son.. problem is, its very difficult to grab his attention... wonder if any of you mothers out there uses GD flashcards as well? any ideas?

There use to be furniture stores at Harbour Front and Turf City - are they still around?