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

Last week I visited a few wooden house manufacturers. Dan Pruteanu from Wood IQ told us that while we're in the area, let's go to Suceava and seeMountain with flowersand meet the Nistor family. He was convinced that we would enjoy this meeting and he was not wrong. We really appreciated their desire for perfection. Here at Mountain with flowers, we've seen how you can make a glossy painted MDF near perfection even when working with two colours and the panel is milled with a difficult pattern. Also 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 by their own efforts.

Why the Flower Mountain?

I think that 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 people from Bukovina who make furniture. Adrian is 'adopted' in Bucovina, being from Braila, but he clearly fits in very well.

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 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 actually the name given to another beginning, desired many years ago. Lia, born near Putna, inherited from her parents a piece of hill that in summer was full of wild flowers. When they would go there on holiday, the children would say they were going to the mountain with flowers and so the name stuck. They wanted to make a guesthouse with this name, but a lot of obstacles made them give up and even suspended the activity of the company for a while.

The failure of the boarding house has been a gain for the business. A few years later they started the painting business and figured there was no point in starting another business since they had one. So they reactivated it and instead of welcoming 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 end up at the paint shop by chance. As early as 2002, more than 10 years before they set up the paint shop, they started making custom furniture from chipboard. Over time, orders for painted MDF fronts came in, which they handled by calling in other companies.

One evening they were sitting down for a chat and a beer with a friend, a long-serving painter at a car repair shop. As is often the case, they ended up discussing work-related issues. Adrian complained that he has to wait a long time for the painted doors to arrive, that sometimes the colours don't match, and that if an accident happens and they fall off or get banged up, it's difficult to get them repainted, sometimes having to order new ones. It wasn't long before the question came up, "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 when spraying. They rented a space where they would come in every day after hours and work until 10-11pm to get perfect gloss surfaces. But the results were far from what was expected. Adrian even had a cute expression about the failure: "It didn't go along with the side".

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

„I told Mr. Dan to explain to us like a fool, step by step: how to apply the insulator, the primer, how to sand, how to apply the varnish, how to polish, how high the temperature should be, how to get rid of the dust, everything. He wrote it all down for us, step by step, and that's how we were able to get to the performance we have now. I hear that some people do all kinds of improvisations. We stick to exactly what we are told. Defects still occur, but if you don't respect the technology either, you certainly won't get the quality you want.„.

The pieces on display in the workshop were proof of the level of quality they had reached. I told them that I was impressed and that such quality is achieved with the help of high-performance machinery. With all my praise they said there was room for improvement. Adrian even gave himself an 8 out of 10. Refreshing to meet people for whom "it just works" 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 buying a CNC. They realised 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 dividers, radiator masks, perforated patterns.

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

"We were again lucky enough 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 the point, in a way we understood. It wasn't a commercial discussion but a technical one, where we got 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 realised it was too complicated for them and didn't have the patience to get into it. 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 Comanesti twice to convince themselves 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. It can be said that the visit to the Wood IQ showroom in Comănești was decisive in the decision.

CNC 1325 ProThe model chosen is a machining centre with a smaller footprint, but sufficient for their needs and without a tool shed. Since they don't do mass production, the lack of a magazine doesn't seem to be a problem. It was installed last November and they are already working on sophisticated models on it so the investment is slowly starting to be recouped.

The workshop and the team at Flower Mountain

We 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 mechanical work area is totally separate from the area where the lacquer is applied. The place where the insulator and primer are applied is different from where the lacquer is applied. Drying is carried out in specially designed areas. It is not a question of extraordinary facilities, but of attention to technology and the instructions given by 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 also located, 8 people work, forming, without a doubt, a team. They are treated with respect and they return the respect. Lia told us that since she has been working in the field, not a single person has left. Since the beginning, the teams have grown slowly, both in the paint shop and in the workshop where furniture is assembled. All these people 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. It's obvious they really like what they do.

3D panel for pizzeria

While we were in the workshop the foreman came to do some tests on the CNC. I thought it was more of a demonstration for us, but I was wrong. They had received an order from a pizzeria in town for divider panels and were anxious to see if they could get the design. It was a more unusual design that created the illusion of relief, of 3D, and they had been working on the design a bit. I was pleased to see that they did very well.

Besides, 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-of-a-kind, but they wouldn't turn away from a small run either. I asked them if they had the production capacity for series, knowing that as far as the door front market was concerned there would be room. The big, well-known companies can't cope with the demand and the waiting time can be as long as 2-3 months. They told me they are now working on 50% of capacity and may even expand. So we may soon see "Flower Mountain" branded door fronts.

As we had to get to other places we had to stop, but I admit we could have talked to them all day. I'm sure we'll see each other again, but even more sure you'll hear from them again, and what they're doing now, that flawless glossy MDF, will surely find its way to other furniture makers who don't yet have the ability to paint.