Daughter furnishes family business with future plans

UNDER THE RADAR:Julianne Kelly, Kevin Kelly Interiors

UNDER THE RADAR:TIMING IS everything. When Julianne Kelly joined the family business in 2004, it was so busy that although they had considered expansion, there simply wasn't time. Now, as she prepares to take over, turnover has almost halved.

Kevin Kelly Interiors, one of Ireland’s leading interior design businesses for the past 35 years, is a fixture on Donnybrook’s Morehampton Road in the heart of Dublin 4.

“One of the most extraordinary things about this recession is the difference between how I’ve reacted to it and how my parents have reacted to it,” says Kelly, whose love of design made her the natural successor in a family of four children. “I was startled by the speed at which the economy worsened. But my parents were considerably more sanguine, probably because they’d seen it all before and knew that upturn follows downturn . . . hopefully.”

Interior design probably wasn’t uppermost in the mind of Kevin Kelly, a civil engineer by profession, when he returned from Britain in the early 1970s looking for a business opportunity.

He first gravitated towards carpets, introducing a leading UK brand to Ireland. But he soon realised there was substantial demand for modern design and decor, and began importing all the big designer names of the day and building a successful business.

Like her father, Julianne Kelly appeared to be heading in an altogether different direction when she graduated from UCD in 2000 with a degree in philosophy and classics. But she rapidly followed this with a diploma in entrepreneurial studies from the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and two design qualifications.

Now, as her parents gradually step back from the business, she is taking over the day-to-day control.

Her first challenge is the recession. The company had a healthy turnover in 2008 of €1.8 million but this is likely to almost halve to about €1 million this year.

Yet Kelly realises they have not been as badly hit as other businesses in the sector, particularly companies that had found a lucrative niche market fitting out showhouses and apartments at the height of the property boom.

“We had a very good year from June 2008 to June 2009, though we’d noticed from April onwards that things were getting much quieter. The summer was also very, very quiet. However, we have seen a pick-up again since September,” says Kelly. “We’re providing a lot more quotes, though people are still much slower to commit.”

The business has taken steps to control costs. Kelly and her parents have taken wage cuts. They have also renegotiated their contacts with suppliers and passed those savings on in the form of discounts to customers. “We’re lucky in that people choose from sample books, so we don’t have a warehouse sitting packed with furniture, carpets and curtains. Also, interiors are not like clothes, which go out of fashion at the end of every season and have to be reduced in price. Our sample books last for several seasons.”

Kelly has already begun planning for the end of the recession, optimistic that another “quiet” year in 2010 may be followed by a more commercially active 2011.

“I’m writing a new interior design blog on our website, which has been well received, I’ve been writing for the RTÉ Guide about interior design trends, and we’re setting up a Facebook page.

“Ultimately, once the economy has picked up, I’d like to think again about those expansion plans we didn’t have time for before,” she adds with a smile.