WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Palliser Furniture, Canada’s largest residential furniture maker and importer, has restructured into five smaller, more focused and entrepreneurial companies.


The move accommodates the third generation of the DeFehr family and creates new growth opportunities in an increasingly competitive market, said Art DeFehr, Palliser’s president and CEO.

“The world around us is changing, our family is reaching a transition point and we need to make important decisions … to fully engage the energy and abilities of the next generation,” he said.

Retailers should see little or no changes in service and delivery, DeFehr added.

The five new operating companies are:

+ Palliser Furniture, which continues the Palliser name as the upholstery division, known primarily for leather. The new company has several factories in Canada and four in Mexico, and intends to import more finished goods from Asia. Art DeFehr remains president but with a new senior management team, including Carsten Diercks, currently senior vice president, as the senior manager.

The sales effort is led by John Philips, executive vice president of sales, assisted by Palliser veteran Adrian Price in his new role as vice president of Canadian sales and sales administration. James DeFehr, nephew of Art DeFehr, continues as senior manager of Palliser’s Mexico operations.

+ Blend Furniture, formerly known as Palliser’s World Trade Division and a case goods importer in all major categories from bedroom and dining room to occasional and wall units/entertainment systems. Palliser veteran Roger Freisen is president. Other senior managers include Philip Klassen, a Palliser veteran with both domestic manufacturing and Asian sourcing experience, as vice president of operations; and Ben Horch, another company veteran, as vice president of sales.

Blend is the only new operating company not led by a member of the DeFehr family.

+ EQ3, a retail-driven lifestyle concept aimed at younger consumers and launched in 2001 under the leadership of Peter Tielmann, son-in-law of Art DeFehr, who will continue as president. EQ3 sources most of its wood offerings in Asia but produces upholstery in Canada and Mexico. EQ3 is marketed through both franchised stores and in-store galleries.

+ DeFehr Furniture. This division and its 400,000-square-foot Winnipeg factory was sold to the family of Art DeFehr’s oldest brother, Frank DeFehr, in 2004. With the restructuring, Palliser’s other Canadian-based wood operation — the Logic division, producers of youth bedroom and other products — becomes part of DeFehr Furniture. The company is led by Andrew DeFehr, son of Frank DeFehr, who has been named CEO. The division now has over 1 million square feet of domestic wood manufacturing space and over 1,000 employees.

+ Arconas. This contract furniture company specializes in public seating for such facilities as the new Dallas airport terminal and the Boston airport. It has been purchased by Dan Nussbaum, son-in-law of Art DeFehr.

Palliser, Blend, EQ3 and DeFehr are based in Winnipeg; Arconas is based in Toronto. Palliser or its shareholders will continue to own and manage the company’s other interests, including area rug supplier Kalora Interiors and the 220 Elm showroom building in High Point.

Art DeFehr said, “In the past, many of the leading companies in the industry were conglomerates like Palliser, with a broad footprint across the industry. This strategy may still work for some, but it becomes increasingly difficult as companies move to professional management or further generations of ownership. Given that many of the emerging competitors faced by Palliser are very focused companies, Palliser needed to restructure to reflect the nature of this new competition.”

Each of the five new companies will be large enough to be competitive and also focused and specialized, he said. “The new companies have the opportunity and freedom to cooperate where that is in their interest, but to be flexible and creative where that is required,” DeFehr said.