Maxim, your company is one of Kraft's first distributors. As far as I know, you have been working with Kraft almost since its foundation - for over 10 years. How did it all start? Why did you decide to work in suspended ceilings in particular?

Yes, indeed we have been working with Kraft for 10 years - since 2012. In 2011 grilyato began to appear on the market - and for that time it was a know-how. I wanted to know more about these ceilings. I scoured the manufacturers and thus became acquainted with Kraft. I talked to Kraft representatives, learned more about the product itself and decided to try it. Moreover, Kraft offered very comfortable conditions for development. As a result, it has been more than 10 years of fruitful cooperation.

Was it hard at first? After all, this is a new direction...

It was different... But I immediately decided that I had to deal not only with sales, but also with installation. And this has played a positive role in the development of both my company and Kraft. We always received feedback from Kraft about the nuances of installation. Just like Kraft, we wanted to make the process of installation as simple as possible not only for professionals, but also for ordinary people. It is worth noting that at our request Kraft specialists would go to the site, get acquainted with the problem, then make test batches of products until the problem was eliminated.

Tell us about the company. What services do you provide? What other manufacturers do you work with?

I have been working as a sole proprietorship since 2012. In 2017 I registered LLC "Grilyato". Now we have 12 people on the staff. But we work with objects of any complexity, as if necessary, we can attract proven contractors. We work all over Ukraine, but mostly orders come from Kyiv and the central region. We do not work with other manufacturers of ceilings, we sell and install only ceilings "Kraft".

How many clients have you had in ten years? More than a thousand?

I think a lot more. We have 200+ objects in every major city of Ukraine. And this is only in places where we performed the installation. There were more sales, of course.

What is the most important for you in your work with the client? Formulate the three main principles of work

The three main principles are quality, speed, reliability. And the main thing in my work for me is to give the client exactly what he wants. There were times when a client comes in and says: "I want a Fortis ceiling. We get the details, we ask a question: "Why Fortis and not Nova? The reply is: "Fortis is more expensive, so it's better." And we understand that Nova profiles will be enough for ordinary mineral slabs. As a result the client is satisfied because he got the ceiling he wanted and also saved some money.

Sometimes clients don't even know what they want. Then we offer them our recommendations and we are happy when clients thank us for our excellent work.

Were there any particularly memorable objects? With unusual design or other features?

After 10 years of work it's hard to surprise me with anything. There was an interesting design in the "Ornament" shopping mall - "embroidery" made of grilyato. Smart Plaza Obolon - a non-standard slatted ceiling. "Deco" tile store - black and white grilyato with "day and night" scheme. Probably the most unusual ceiling in one office was a mosaic of turquoise slats. We made the design ourselves. It took about 10 days to install 20 sq. m., but it was very creative.

What, in your opinion, are the prospects for the suspended ceiling market in Ukraine? What new products can be expected in the near future? What products would you like to see in Ukraine?

The market of metal suspended ceilings has a great potential. Metal ceilings, because metal is non-combustible, it's easy to paint any color, give it any texture and shape.

The T-profile ceilings have been on the market for quite a long time and now they are moving to the inexpensive segment. They are only used to quickly and cheaply close the ceiling space. But now people mainly prefer design solutions, grid ceilings, combinations of different types of ceilings. The most promising solutions right now are cube and slatted slats. With these ceilings you can make any pattern or a multilevel ceiling.

Also, I would like to wish Kraft to continue the development of integrated lighting. After all, 40% of the ceiling's appearance depends on the lighting. KRAT Led luminaires are undoubtedly a great solution. It is very convenient to buy everything you need for a ceiling from one supplier. But the range of lighting can and should be expanded.

How would you rate Kraft as a manufacturer and business partner?

I will repeat once again - I feel very comfortable working with Kraft. There were, of course, some contentious issues and complaints. But all these questions were solved quickly and without conflict. And I really like this human approach.

What do you wish Kraft?