At the Mountain of Flowers the gloss of the MDF panels is impeccable

Last week we visited some producers of wooden houses. Dan Pruteanu from Wood IQ told us that, while we're in the area, let's go to Suceava to see Mountain with flowers and meet the Nistor family. He was convinced that we would enjoy this meeting and he was not wrong. I very much appreciated their desire for perfection. Here at Mountain with flowers, we've seen how you can make a glossy painted MDF close to perfection even when you're working with two colors and the panel is milled with a difficult pattern. Still with the idea of processing MDF panels as well and correctly as possible, they came to the conclusion that they needed a CNC which they managed to buy on their own.

Why the Flower Mountain?

I think it was the first question I asked after we met. I met Lia and Adrian Nistor - she a graduate in food chemistry, he an economist - two determined and hard-working furniture makers from Bukovina. Adrian is "adopted" in Bucovina, as he is from Brăila, but it's clear that he's well suited to the place.

We started talking in the office, not knowing exactly what they were doing. I found out pretty quickly, because they had a few pieces on display in the office. Among them were some MDF panels painted glossyso well finished I couldn't believe it was made by them. The reflected image was like the one in the mirror: straight, continuous edges, clear, undistorted image.

But back to the name, so unusual for a furniture company. Mountain with flowers is in fact the name given to another beginning, desired many years ago. Lia, born near Putna, inherited from her parents a piece of hill that was full of wild flowers in summer. When they went there on vacation, the children would say that they were going to the mountain with flowers, and so the name stuck. They wanted to set up a guesthouse with that name, but a lot of obstacles made them give up and they even suspended the business for a while.

But the boarding house's failure has been a gain for the business now. A few years later, they started the painting business and thought there was no point in starting another firm since they already had one. So they reactivated it and instead of receiving guests on a hill full of flowers near Putna, they started painting MDF in Suceava.

They had an old relationship with furniture

But they didn't come to painting by chance. As early as 2002, more than 10 years before they started painting, they started making custom furniture from chipboard. As time went by, they also started taking orders for painted MDF fronts, which they had to get other companies to do.

One evening they were having a chat and a beer with a friend, a longtime painter at a car service. As is often the case, they ended up discussing work matters. Adrian complained that he has to wait a long time for the painted doors to arrive, that sometimes the colors don't match, and that if an accident happens and they fall or get bumped, it's difficult to get them repainted, sometimes having to order new ones. It wasn't long before the question arose, "But are we really not up to it?"

Luciu close to perfection

It was like a bet with themselves. They thought about starting in the garage, but it was difficult with the resulting overspray from spraying. They rented a space where they would come in after hours every day and work until 10-11 in the evening to get perfect gloss surfaces. But the results were far from expectations. Adrian even had a funny expression about the failure: "It didn't fit together".

Then, by chance, they had the chance to meet Dan Ispas from Kroncolor (Renner) who was patient and explained every step of the finishing.

„We told Mr. Dan to explain it to us like fools, step by step: how to apply the insulator, the primer, how to sand, how to apply the varnish, how to polish, how the temperature should be, how to get rid of dust, everything. He wrote it all down step by step, and that's how we were able to get to where we are now. I hear some people do all kinds of improvisations. We do exactly as we're told. Faults happen, but if you don't follow the technology, you certainly won't get the quality you want„.

The parts on display in the workshop were a testament to the level of quality they had achieved. I told them that I was impressed and that such quality can only be achieved with the help of high-performance machines. With all my praise they said there was room for improvement. Adrian even gave himself an 8 out of 10. Invigorating to meet people for whom "just so so" doesn't exist.

The need for perfection also led them to purchase the CNC

The need for perfection also led them to the idea of purchasing a CNC. They realized that they would not achieve the desired level of quality by using a manual router to machine the edges. They had a hobby level CNC, made with the help of a friend, but they couldn't rely on it for top quality. Instead, it showed them where they could go with a professional one. It would open up a lot of new directions in the business: door fronts with distinctive patterns, room divider panels, radiator masks, open-work patterns.

In 2017 they were BIFE SIM to see the CNC offer and better understand what they need.

"We were again lucky to meet a professional"Lia Nistor tells us. "We arrived at the stand Wood IQ and I met Dan Pruteanu. We told him how much we knew about CNCs, what we wanted and he explained everything to us in a very simple way, in our understanding. It was not a commercial discussion but a technical one, in which we received all the information we needed and I liked that, he convinced us. We decided that we would buy the CNC from him when the time came."

They first thought of a Start UpBut they realized that it was too complicated for them and they didn't have the patience to take the plunge. They didn't want to mess with the bank either so they decided to rely on their own funds. They went to Wood IQ in Comănești twice to make sure they were making the right choice. They also went there with the panels they wanted to CNC machine in the future. They did tests together and the decision to buy was made after seeing the results. You could say that the visit to the Wood IQ showroom in Comănești was decisive in the decision.

CNC 1325 Pro, the model chosen, is a machining center with a smaller footprint, sufficient, however, for their needs and without tool magazine. Since they do not do mass production, the lack of a tool magazine does not seem to be a problem. It was installed in November last year and they are already working sophisticated models on it so the investment is slowly starting to be recouped.

The Flower Mountain workshop and team

I then went to the workshop. It was very clear to me that they understood that dust is the main enemy of the gloss finish. The machining area is totally separate from the lacquering area. The place where the insulator and primer are applied is different from where the lacquer is applied. Drying is carried out in specially designed rooms. It is not a question of having extraordinary facilities, but of paying attention to the technology and to the instructions received from the varnish supplier. If these things are not taken into account, varnishes, no matter how good they are, can never give a flawless shine.

In the paint shop, where the CNC is located, there are 8 people working and they are definitely a team. They are treated with respect and return the respect. Lia told us that not a single person has left them since they have been in the business. Since the beginning, the teams have grown slowly, both in the paint shop and in the workshop where the furniture is assembled. They all work here with pleasure and it shows.

Mrs. Angela, whom I found sanding and whom I congratulated on how well her glossy MDF boards turned out, told me that you have to like what you do, otherwise it doesn't turn out well. They obviously really like what they do.

3D panel for pizzeria

While we were in the workshop the foreman came in to do some tests on the CNC. I thought it was more of a demonstration for us, but I was wrong. They had gotten an order from a pizza parlor in town for divider panels and were anxious to see if they could come up with that design. It was a more unusual design that created the illusion of relief, 3D, and they had done some work on the design. I was happy to see that it turned out very well.

In fact, everything I do is a bit different. They make furniture to order and try to satisfy the most discerning tastes. Almost everything they make is one-off, but they wouldn't be put off by a small series. I asked them if they had the production capacity for mass production, knowing that as far as the door fronts market was concerned there would be room. The big, well-known companies are not able to cope with the demand and the waiting time can be 2-3 months. They told me they are now working at 501TPTP3T of capacity and may even expand. So we may soon be seeing Flower Mountain branded door fronts.

As we had other places to go, we had to stop, but I admit we could have chatted with them all day. I'm sure we'll meet again, but even more sure that you'll hear from them again, and what they're doing now, that impeccable glossy MDF, will surely reach other furniture manufacturers who don't yet have the possibility to paint.