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Alberto Cantor's international furniture business
began with a basket.
"Years ago, my wife and I were visiting the
Philippines and we fell in love with the hand-made baskets we found
there," said Cantor, the founder and CEO of Raphia. "So we
brought some home and they sold out within a few days."
 From
those humble beginnings Cantor developed a passion for discovering
beautiful hand-crafted furniture from around the world. He opened his
first Raphia store in a small colonial town in the outskirts of
Caracas, Venezuela. Today he has seven stores throughout South America
and the U.S., including the Raphia store in the Colonial Palms
Shopping Plaza in Pinecrest, which is celebrating its second
anniversary.
Exceptional craftsmanship and distinctive style at affordable prices
are the hallmarks of Raphia in Colonial Palms Plaza. Alberto Cantor,
the store's founder and CEO, is like an "Indiana Jones" of
furniture, traveling to the remotest regions of the world to
personally select all the hand-crafted items in his store.
Cantor still selects every piece of furniture himself.
In fact, he is like "Indiana Jones," traveling to the most
remote regions of the world to bring back rare and unique hand-crafted
furniture and baskets.
He has explored the hidden mountains of northern
Thailand and discovered an unusual style of temple water jar, which he
brought back to use as a distinctive decorative vase. He has walked
through some of the most isolated villages in India and discovered
beautifully carved doors and windows that he brought back to use as
tables, and decorative farmers' cart wheels to use as side tables. He
has sailed to the nearly unknown islands of Indonesia and discovered
artisans crafting beautiful planters from the trunks of ancient fallen
trees. And he has traveled throughout Java, Bali, the Philippines and
northern India to discover a wealth of extraordinary hand-made
furniture, unique home accessories and baskets, the likes of which
have rarely been seen outside the boundaries of their local villages
and towns.
"When I told my father what I wanted to do for a
living, he thought I was out of my mind," said Cantor, who holds
two master's degrees (architecture and public policies) from Harvard
University.
"My father complained, 'All that education and I
wanted to open a furniture store.' "He refused to step foot in it
at first, and I don't blame him. But now he is my strongest supporter.
"This is definitely a passion for me," he
added. "I have an eye for seeing the beauty of an artisan's
craftsmanship, even in something as simple as a basket or a carved
chair, and I want to bring their work to people who are looking for
something unusual and exceptional to set their home decor apart."
Raphia features a wide selection of hand-crafted sofas, chairs,
tables, entertainment centers, vases, baskets, even unique artificial
flowers that are so extraordinary they were featured in the March 2000
issue of InStyle Magazine. The items are also affordably priced.
Exclusively for his Pinecrest customers, Cantor has
added a new personalized interior design service with the assistance
of Debbie Burman, the store's In-Home Décor Consultant. Burman will
meet with customers, then bring a variety of items to the customer's
home to see which pieces work the best.
"Many people come in to our store and like what
they see, but aren't quite sure how to use it in their own home,"
Burman said. "That's where we can help. You don't need to buy a
whole room full of furniture. We can help you select the right pieces
to create a distinctive style for your home that is uniquely
yours."
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