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Made in Vermont: Kenyan Furniture

Brattleboro, Vermont - December 1, 2006

Daniel Omondi Odhuno's name means "born in the morning." Now he's working morning 'til night on growing his furniture business.

"When you make a mistake, it's not easy to correct," says Omondi.

He honed that careful approach starting at 13 years old in his father's furniture shop in Africa.

"My father passed and he left me with the shop. So I worked in Kenya managing that shop."

Omondi moved from Kenya to Brattleboro six years ago. Soon he began meeting members of Vermont's large woodworking community.

"Most of them were very welcoming. And to exchange ideas with woodworking was great."

So he decided to try carving out a name for himself as a maker of heirloom-quality furniture. The mallet and chisel technique so traditional in his homeland is seen as unique here.

"The most challenging part of that transition from being a furniture maker in Africa and being a furniture maker in the US is that in the US it's an art. And in Africa it's a necessity what they need to use."

A bed like this may have cost two hundred dollars in Omondi's family shop in Kenya. This one will sell for nearly four thousand. Wood is more expensive here, and homeowners expect finer craftsmanship...

Meaning hand-shaped wooden joints instead of nails or screws, and much more time spent sanding and finishing than customers would or could ask for in Africa.

"If I would do the same style, same quality -- nobody could afford it there."

Omondi balances his woodworking with another passion. During soccer season, he coaches at Leland & Grey in Townshend. He also picks up carpentry jobs to pay the bills but his fledgling furniture business got a big boost this fall. Omondi won the top prize at the respected Fine Furnishings Show in Providence... Best in show for an individual piece of furniture.

"I was pumped up. People appreciate what I do."

And he appreciates where he does it. The passion he imported from Kenya is now engraining him in a long legacy of Made in Vermont furniture.

"This is the place I want to be."

Jack Thurston - Channel 3 News