The ten pieces of exotic cane furniture which Prainroop Prasad took to GuyExpo two weekends ago were all sold. The Essequibo-born Eccles-based businessman regards this as a good sign.
GuyExpo served as the relaunching of his business, Samuel’s Wicker, Rattan and Upholstery Establishment. It has been created in 1998 and between then and 2004, when the business was forced to close its doors, he had exported millions of dollars in furniture to several Caribbean territories including Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda and Suriname.
The regional market accounted for about 80 per cent of his business, so that when the influx of much cheaper furniture started during the early 2000s he closed the business and went into sawmilling.
To manufacture some of his furniture, Prasad must have access to kufa, the remarkably sturdy parasitic vine that wraps itself around the trunks of huge trees. Periodically, Prasad travels to locations that include Siriki and Karawab in the Pomeroon River and to the Barima-Waini area where he buys the material from harvesters. Kufa is sold at $5,000 per 200 ft. It takes a day
