COREONE
Core One A/S is a privately held Danish company manufacturing furniture at our own factory near Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. We manufacture dining room, living room, bedroom, upholstery, hallway, and home office furniture by order and ship in full container loads to leading furniture retailers around the globe.
Established in 2008, our company is anchored in Danish traditions of modern design, crafts and tradesmanship with high attention to detail and quality. To provide the best service and the best products, our company is placed in both Denmark and in Vietnam. In Denmark, CoreOne executes sales and administers customer service, product design, and inspirational marketing. In Vietnam, Response Vietnam Co., Ltd. oversees technical development, purchasing, production, quality assurance and control, and a variety of shared services. We have large showrooms in both Denmark and in Vietnam. Although we are at two continents, we are one team.
Our designs are predominantly created by independent, Danish designers that share our deep knowledge of materials and construction, know our customers well, and fully understand our factory’s properties. We are inspired by Scandinavian, Mid-century, and industrial designs. We mainly produce wooden furniture, and all our woods are from North America, either American White Oak or American Black Walnut. Our leather is from Brazil, and our fabrics from China, whereas metals, foams, surfaces, and packing materials are sourced from international companies with locations in Vietnam.
OUR STORY
Our company was founded in 2008 as a trading company producing own designs at independent Vietnamese factories. The company name arrived from our mission to stay focused on relatively few core competencies, a limited number of suppliers, select raw materials, fast and efficient product development, convincing quality, and superior service. To support our decision to be our customers’ most reliable, most committed, and most preferred furniture supplier, we established our factory, Response Vietnam Co., Ltd., in 2013 and became a manufacturer instead of a trading company.
The factory has grown over the years and through a full vertical integration we now manufacture our products in full completion with all components from wood, metal, and upholsteries processed inhouse. An expansion in 2018 brought the entire factory floor to 25,000 sqm with 800 sqm offices and showroom, and we have plenty of opportunity to scale our capacity in the coming years. We currently employ +270 staff at Response Vietnam Co., Ltd., of which around 25 work in the administration. In Denmark we are 10 colleagues.
OUR VALUES
CUSTOMER FIRST
Everything we contemplate centres around the customer experience. We understand the values of service that stands out, of seamless communication, and of delivering on the brand promise. Sourcing valuable, original designs in full container loads from Vietnam is not a simple task, but we make it a convenient experience.
UNCOMPROMISING QUALITY
Efficiency, design efforts, and optimizations mean nothing if quality fails. We employ exceptional quality measures and controls throughout production, and we use strong data as the main driver for improvements. Every single production process is QC checked, and every single product is examined before shipping. Our target is 0% faults.
PASSIONATE CARE
We are passionate about what we do. We genuinely care about our customers, our colleagues, our suppliers, our products, and the environment. We adhere to the highest standards of orderly conduct and corporate social responsibility. Passion keeps us motivated and contributes to making our company better every day.
OUR GOALS
TREADING LIGHTLY
We recognize that as an industry we affect the environment. Processing materials and moving goods around the world must be done as carefully and with as little impact as possible. Our newly built headquarters in Denmark is carbon neutral from producing our own energy from rooftop solar panels, using external wind powered energy, and heating with biogas. 80% of our energy consumption in Vietnam is from hydropower, and our investment strategies incorporate reductions in power consumption, material use, and sustainable waste management. We are in full compliance with respect to the use of chemicals in production and in products, and wherever possible our raw materials are from diligent, traceable, and sustainable sources.
TRADING SEAMLESSLY
We commit to supplying outstanding service, delivering an impeccable product on time, acting reliably and flexibly, and expanding our portfolio of well-designed and well-constructed furniture with pace. Trading with us, a responsible Danish company, is safe and trouble-free, and we constantly aim to surpass expectations. Our products and our materials have all passed relevant safety and compliance tests, and we can document traceability on metals, woods, leathers, and fabric components. Our factory is audited annually by amfori BSCI and by SMETA (4-Pillar) which is one of the most widely used ethical audit formats in the world. Also, technical and chemical factory audits are performed each year.
TRANSFORMING CONTINUOUSLY
We want to be best. But best is not stationary, and we always seek to improve and optimize. We acknowledge the necessity to learn from our customers, the value of inspiration from peers, and the dangers of self-sufficiency. We work with several young design talents that share our passion for Scandinavian and Mid-century design, keep themselves well-informed about the winds of change in international furniture retail, and are highly productive. Investments at our factory will equal 40% of our earnings in the coming years. We run comprehensive training schemes for workers and managers, and we appreciate and develop talent. We pursue potential wherever we see it, and we want to grow the business. Ambition is expected of us.
WE CARE ABOUT
HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY
CoreOne pursues high standards in respect of orderly conduct and corporate social responsibility. We comply with rules and regulations in Denmark and Vietnam, and we take employee welfare and social conditions seriously. To ensure that we do not miss out on important specifics in our daily compliance efforts, we are regularly audited by independent organizations that verify our workplace conditions to be in accordance with human rights, ILO conventions, and national labour law. amfori BSCI and SMETA 4-Pillars are our two current ethical audits. Furthermore, we have annual Facility Chemical Management Assessment and Technical audits. The most recent audits gave us a 90% compliance score for chemical management (’high performance’) and between 90,9 and 100% compliance score for the different sections of the Technical audit.
PRODUCT SAFETY RESPONSIBILITY
CoreOne is conscious of the pronounced responsibility we have for delivering furniture that meet all rules and regulations in the markets we supply to. Through tests, certifications, and by conducting our own guidance to sub-suppliers, we make sure that only environmentally safe and legal materials are used. We use third-party product testing to ensure that we live up to market regulations on product safety and conformity. Most products are tested to EN and BS norms for domestic use, and a growing number of products also for contract use.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
Sustainability is a CoreOne mindset that brings value to our customers. We want to help, no-matter how small we are, and no-matter how long the journey is. Processing and transporting products around the world must be done with as little impact as possible, and to us, energy efficiency, waste management, and sensible materials’ sourcing are strategic focal points. We strive to use as little packing materials as viable, but supplying major furniture retailers, our products must be packed sturdily to endure rough handling. We carefully select materials that have as small an environmental footprint as possible, and most of our materials can be recycled. Our Danish headquarters is carbon neutral as we produce 50% of our energy from rooftop solar panels, and the rest comes from wind power. Up to 80% of our energy consumption in Vietnam is from hydropower, and our investment strategies incorporate reductions in power consumption, reduced water usage, and sustainable waste management. We have been ISO 14001:2015 certified, and now adhere to the most recognised standard within environmental management systems. Also, we are an active member of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative.
WHAT WE DO IN DENMARK
DESIGN
Our creative product management team in Denmark is responsible for the development of our ranges and the cooperation with independent designers. We only manufacture our own designs within dining room, living room, bedroom, hallway, and home office furniture. We are a design-led, white label supplier in the sense that our retail customers market our products as their own, and their consumers are unaware of the CoreOne brand. We work with young design talents that share our passion for the aesthetics of Scandinavian, of Mid-century modernism, and of industrial designs. We enrich our products with the use of beautiful wood joinery methods, bespoke surfaces, detailed upholstery techniques, and tactile leathers and fabrics.
SALES
Sustainable partnerships make us better. Our mentality bids us to persistently develop attractive opportunities for our partners, and we love to talk strategy, creative direction, materials, range planning, and forecasting. There is complexity in sourcing valuable designs in solid woods from Vietnam, and our sales team knows that a good sale is only truly good when we see the repeat order. Our sales efforts are supported by thorough documentation, trustworthy credentials, efficient data platforms, and a strong marketing package.
We provide our customers with inspiring marketing materials, insightful documentation and compelling photos, and everybody is welcome to visit our showrooms in Denmark and Vietnam to be inspired.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Servicing our customers from our office in Denmark ties it all together, and we just want to be best. Despite our many qualities and our strong commitments, things can go sideways, but we take our responsibility seriously. We are always available and ready to help with any question, complaint or inquiry. The customer experience is vital to us, and we sincerely appreciate the values and virtues of outstanding service, of efficient communication, and of delivering on the brand promise.
