Youth entrepreneurs Hafiz Haris and Azhar Hanafi channel their love for art through woodwork, crafting household items that are aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and functional to the room.
Their homegrown brand Ninetytree Design uses wood with epoxy resin, focusing on giving value to the community by documenting the products in the making through daily vlogs, weekly videos and upcoming online tutorials.
Image courtesy of Ninetytree Design 
Image courtesy of Ninetytree Design
“Curiosity brought us to the idea of incorporating Epoxy Resin with woodworking through watching YouTube videos of River Tables and after hearing that Epoxy Resin is available in Brunei, we jumped into the idea right away,” said the founders.
Their main product line consists of kitchenware such as charcuterie boards, cutting boards and coaster sets, while also eyeing to expand their products to desk accessories like keyboard wrist rests and epoxy resin tabletops, among others.
“The name ‘Ninetytree Design’ started off as ‘Happy Man’, simply because we were really bad at coming up with names. Ninety Tree is definitely better and if you realise, our logo is a representation of the name itself,” said the entrepreneurs, adding that they were born in the 90s and have a similar passion for woodworking.
Marketing solely through their Instagram @ninetytree.bn and website, they focus on producing social media content to document the process of making their products.
Image courtesy of Ninetytree Design 
Image courtesy of Ninetytree Design 
Image courtesy of Ninetytree Design 
Image courtesy of Ninetytree Design 
Image courtesy of Ninetytree Design 
Image courtesy of Ninetytree Design
Their main vision is to be able to share their knowledge and skills with anyone and that they are planning to introduce workshops soon, teaching individuals how to work with wood and epoxy resin.
“Woodworking machinery can be very expensive, that’s why we are willing to open our workshop to the community so that everyone can learn by doing,” said the designers.
Ninetytree Design operates from a small garage that was converted into a working space and their skillsets in product design and mechanical engineering complement one another.
“While I had the skill to generate radical ideas, they often lack the technical aspects, that’s where my partner comes in. With his technical background he can bring these ideas to life to create ‘Art with Function’,” said the designer.
On his part, Hafiz shared that prior to venturing into the business, he learned something valuable from his grandmother that helped him persevere until today.
Image courtesy of Ninetytree Design 
Image courtesy of Ninetytree Design
“It’s surprising because my grandmother seemed to know these things by heart and her top tips are, act fast, don’t overthink, don’t be afraid to ask for help and lastly, this is the easiest time to build a business because everything is online,” said the co-founder.
This article was first published on 11 December 2021 in our Weekly E-Paper issue 171 |
THE BRUNEIAN | BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
