Family business that withstands the test of time

MANILA, Philippines - Splashed on the website pages of Adina, an Australian company selling premium watches, are an array of exquisite grandfather and miniature clocks made from solid mahogany and adorned with delicate and intricate wood carvings.

One might mistake the clocks as something Australian, Italian or French-made. But no, the clocks are proudly Philippine-made and carries the seal of a Pinoy family who has been making fine furniture since 1911, the Adrianos.

Every piece of clock brims with Philippine history of making fine furniture that begun a century ago.

The Adriano business of fine furniture was started by a craftsman named Simplicio Adriano in 1911.

After the war in the 1940s, the company resumed and grew by leaps and bounds in 1950s up to the 80s.

During those golden days owning an Adriano piece is like owning an heirloom that one can pass on to the next generation.

Simplicio taught his sons the rudiments of making fine furniture but it was his son Avelino who shined and showed exceptional talent.

Avelino specialized in French Provincial, Italian, Spanish and early American types of furniture saying these designs last forever.

His art and workmanship was soon noticed and in no time, Avelino was named the dean of Filipino furniture.

The old man then turned over the reins of the business to his children. One of them is Ricardo who was blessed with a meticulous eye and just as talented as his father.

Their business continued to flourish until the late ‘80s.

But the ravages of time and the dawning of the digital era has slowed down the business and with the death of Avelino, the family business was divided.

Ricardo took care of the miniature and grandfather clock business while his siblings carried on with the furniture enterprise.

On his own, Ricardo trained his two sons, Francis and Alfred into the intricate art of fine furniture.

Alfred showed talent and inclination in the business and as early as 12 years old has been designing beautiful chairs.

Before Ricardo died in 2004, he told his sons to continue the business, to preserve the family heritage of making fine, hand-carved grandfather clocks.

Today, a century later, Francis and Alfred are doing just that.

Although they have full time jobs, they juggle their time to manage their small factory cum showroom in Taguig.

Francis is a bank manager at Allied Bank while Alfred is working at the Philippine Airlines but during weekends and after office work, both go to their factory and supervise their tight crew which include five workers.

The brothers are not selling the clocks in malls or any other distributors. Instead they are exclusively supplying the clocks to Adina, their client for 22 years.

“When my father died, me and my brother vowed to continue the business, we have a steady client naman in Australia which has been our client for so many years now,” he told The Star.

At their factory, they have a foreman and five workers who painstakingly design the clocks, following designs that date back as five or six decades ago.

One thing that they learned from their grandfather and father which they faithfully follow to heart is to never sacrifice quality for quantity.

“We pride ourselves in offering good quality, good standard, grandfather and miniature clocks,” he said.

This is the reason he says, why a prestigious company like Adina has faithfully patronized their products over the years.

Adina prefers the Adriano brand because of fine craftsmanship and durability.

“Our distributor in Australia said they prefer our brand because when they buy China-made grandfather clocks, the wood easily wears off especially once the season changes. When it’s too hot and too cold, the grandfather clocks’ wood would peel off but our clocks would stand the test of time and weather because of the wood we’re using, Mahogany,” Francis said.

“Our brands are made of solid wood. We are proud that our clocks can withstand the test of time and even the force of nature,” he added.

He admitted that it’s difficult to juggle their day jobs with their business but they still persevere because they want to showcase the best of Filipino furniture making.

Francis said they would continue to manufacture grandfather clocks, believing these would never be outdated.

 “There will always be a market for our clocks. It’s a heritage business. It will not be outdated, because a grandfather clock is part of the house,” he said.

“We want to keep the tradition as long as we could and we’re going to pass this to our children. Likewise, we want to maintain high quality standard and preserve the reputation of the name Adriano. We are not rich but we take pride in our name. We want to preserve the craftsmanship, the workmanship that my father, my grandfather have poured into every design. We will try our best na hindi ito ma-phaphaseout,” he said.