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 History of Southwest Santa Fe Furniture
Southwest Santa Fe Furniture was started by Tim and Ana Laura Gavaldon Chelpaty in 2000. They saw a need for quality office furnishings, in a southwestern style and contemporary, in a price range that was affordable. In researching the market, they came up with designs that were based on modularity or components. In this they saw furniture which could be easily assembled by the customer based on the customer’s different needs and requirements.
The Chelpatys were also tired of seeing poor quality material used in the construction of office furniture. They did not like the fact that a piece of furniture might look good initially but after a few years it would literally fall apart. They did not like particle board construction or veneers. They came up with a motto which is burned into each piece of furniture they manufacture. That motto is “Value Forever”. This uncompromising commitment to quality is based on four principles: quality wood, quality workmanship, quality design, and a quality end product.
All of Southwest Santa Fe Furniture’s products are built from solid oak and solid oak plywood construction and solid maple and solid plywood construction with no veneers or particle board. The office furniture draws its style from the Southwest (straight lines and Santa Fe curves), creating an identifiable product with a distinct design, simple elegance, and outstanding quality. The contemporary design highlights straight lines.
We do business with New Mexico Correction Industries, which manufactures our furniture. We do not receive any prison labor at no cost or discounted labor. We are a PIE (Prison Industries Enhancement) certified program. We are required to pay prevailing wage, which is approximately $8.00 per hour, rather than minimum wage. We are giving inmates an opportunity to satisfy child support, pay victim’s restitution, earn money while they are incarcerated and defray their housing. This program provides them with an excellent rehabilitation. Once some of the inmates are released, we will have an apprenticeship program where by they will continue to work for Southwest Santa Fe Furniture. This program also has the potential to save the taxpayers of the state of New Mexico a substantial sum of money.
We manufacture primarily with solid oak and maple. We are one of the few companies which produce solid wood interconnecting, modular furniture. Additionally, we can do laminate furniture if desired. We can also do custom work if the job were large enough. We manufacture for our Southwest Santa Fe design using solid oak and solid oak plywood. For the contemporary furniture, we use solid maple and solid maple plywood construction. We manufacture solid wood contemporary lounge furniture using an exposed solid oak frame, upholstered seat and back which is a contemporary chair, contemporary two seat chair and contemporary three seat sofa. Additionally, we manufacture an executive lounge chair, an executive two seat chair and an executive three seat sofa which consists of an exposed oak frame around armrests, upholstered seat back and sides and the inner frame is made of solid oak.
New Mexico Correction Industries is in the process of having lean manufacturing procedures implemented, which will assure the highest quality. Additionally, the long-term goal would be to become the first PIE certified program in the United States to have the ISO 9000. Our motto is “Value Forever”. The solid wood furniture is good use value because it does not crack, scratch or break and will last for generations.
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