Today, it continues to nurture some of the finest artists, whose designs can grace your living room via the furniture and furnishings that KA International in the Philippines now offers. Muy bonito, muy Español!
KA stands for Kilo Americano, but don’t let the name fool you. It’s anything but American. Its story began in 1984 when Consuelo Resusta, a fine lady with a passion for decoration, started importing fabrics from New York City and selling them by the kilo in her Madrid store. But the demand for these beautiful fabrics just grew and grew that Consuelo simply had to put up a factory in Velur, outside Barcelona. She took over manufacturing with her factory churning out all kinds of fabrics in all colors and designs – and in quantities to fill her ever-growing market. And si, from design to production, everything was (and still is) Spanish. But the name Kilo Americano, which had become a byword in many a Spanish household, simply stuck.
In 2003, the Resusta family decided to sell their stores and KA International to Mer Capital, a venture capitalist company, which infused a more global orientation to the management of the business. Today, KA International has over 500 stores in five continents, which is more than any other home decoration company can boast of. Fact is, KA opens a new shop every week and in a new market every two months.
"KA International in the Philippines is the No. 499 in the world," says Bea Delgado-Padilla, who tells us how KA got into the country.
Early last year, Jose Ricardo Delgado, young and dynamic CEO of Citadel Holdings Inc., was invited by the British commercial attache on an all-expense-paid trip to attend the annual Exhibition of European Franchises in London. Ricardo graciously accepted, eager as he was to identify new business opportunities for the family business, which was heavily into transportation and service industries. However, at the last minute, Ricardo had to attend to pressing company matters and couldn’t go. He asked his sisters Bea and Carmen to take his place. The two sisters were only too happy to go. Among the hundreds of franchise concepts on exhibit at the trade show, what caught the discerning eye of the two sisters was the small KA store that stood out amid the football field-size convention hall with its small living room decked in stunningly elegant KA furniture and fabrics.
"It’s a beautiful concept, there’s simply nothing like it in Manila," gushes Bea. "We have everything here, like food, dry cleaning, gyms, child tutorial services, etc., but not this. Mostly, people go to the small shops. There’s no company that sells standard high quality furniture in standard designs – everything is made to order."
Enter KA International, a one-stop home decoration shop. Now, homemakers/decorators don’t have to deal with assorted suppliers, like fabric store, upholsterer or furniture manufacturer. Indeed, this takes the pains out of home decorating.
Bea is happy to note, "This is unique and we looked at the pricing and it’s not that expensive, it’s affordable."
With their penchant for home decoration, Bea and Carmen saw the need for high quality fabrics at not-so-high prices Manilans can afford. "We either have very expensive fabrics like Pierre Frais and Jim Thompson or low-priced polyester cotton blends, but nothing in between."
When they returned to Manila, the Delgados immediately started talks with KA International and then got a space at the ground floor of the Manansala Building in Rockwell, Makati. The store is now open to serve people with home decorating needs.
Need to jazz up a nondescript room with new drapes? Need to give new life to old and antique furniture?
Says Bea, "As frachisees, the mother company gives us the templates. For instance, they give us a picture for a particular room, where we can use this tela for this stool/bench or curtains, bed covers, and pillows. There’s a blue living room, a blue bedroom, a blue study. These templates will be our guide in case clients want us to do the actual design from scratch. And in case we don’t have the fabric on stock, we will order it from Spain."
KA International carries some 800 designs and KA Philippines has 258 on stock. "Spanish designers, some of whom we’ve met, do the designs," says Bea. "A lot of them are old seasoned designers who have in their studios their big canvases. They would actually paint the designs and send these to the lab, which converts these to actual cloths in sample sizes."
KA addresses all kinds of fabric decoration needs: jacquard, stamped fabrics, cotton, linen, chenille (a mix of corduroy and velvet, Carmen tells us), silk, velvet, canvas, lace curtains.
"We have stamped fabrics and lots that are woven," Bea points out. "There’s KA Elite, priced from P3,000 to P4,000 per meter; and KA Design, that’s only P1,000 per meter. We have the double- width fabric, which is economical especially for curtains.
The fabrics on display in KA stores are divided into six main color groups – neutrals, blues, greens, yellows, terra-cotta, and reds. "They come in plains, prints, stripes, checks," Bea enumerates. "And all our fabrics and furniture are named after places, like Panama, Sao Paulo, Paris, Manila. There’s a table called mesa Manila."
The fabrics are fire-retardant and stain-resistant. All KA fabrics are sanforized to give the cloth greater shape and stability.
Ever innovative, KA launches 10 annual collections. So expect something new and different from KA every month (except January and August).
"The furniture that we have in our store are modern ones with traditional touches, which is the trend in furniture today," says Bea.
KA’s furniture is handcrafted by skillful artisans who use traditional upholstery techniques. Every piece of furniture – sofas, armchairs, chairs, benches, side tables and beds in wrought iron (which Spain is famous for), stools – is made-to-order with the fabric the client has chosen, making each piece a personal choice. Every furniture is made of solid wood to ensure durability. Pine wood is used for the internal structure while it’s beech wood for the exterior structure.
"Every single item has at least 20 or 30 variations," says Bea. "For sofas, you can decide to have a two-seater, a three-seater, one with a skirt, piping on the structure, sofas with casters/wheels; all sorts of filling for cushions (standard, soft, feather). We have six kinds of varnishes.There’s just so many to choose from."
There are lamps and other lighting fixtures, towel racks, and a lot of other things that make a house a beautiful home. Because as Bea will probably tell you, "Su casa es mi casa."