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Fallbrook residents honored as top exporters

If you want to be the best you have to set your sights high. That philosophy has worked very well for Fallbrook residents Chris and Darcy Kuran and their company, Waterstone Faucets, which targets the high-end market of kitchen and bath.

Waterstone was recently honored by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the 2016 Santa Ana District and Region IX Exporter of the Year. The Santa Ana District includes the Southern California counties of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino. Region IX represents the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and the territory of Guam in the national small business competition.

"We got two awards, which was a cool thing," said Chris Kuran, who along with his wife, Darcy, attended the 53rd annual Small Business Week Awards on May 3 at the Disneyland Hotel Grand Ballroom.

Waterstone was nominated for the award by Bruce Coleman and Kimberly Davidson of the City of Murrieta Economic Development Department. Waterstone's manufacturing plant has been located in Murrieta for 17 years.

"We’re the only U.S.-manufactured kitchen faucet company," said Kuran. "Everybody else imports. Our little company in Southern California is doing it all. We do raw material in one end, and we do all the processes, from machine, polishing, plating, finishing, and powder coating, and then we do assembly, pack out, inspection and out the door."

Kuran said people are amazed Waterstone is doing everything locally.

"We get asked all the time, ‘hey this is fantastic, we love your product, where is it made?'" said Kuran. "And we say, 'right here in the U.S.' And they say, ‘yeah, but where are you getting it, where is it actually physically made.' And we say, ‘Southern California, we do it ourselves.’ We’re kind of a lone wolf out there."

Kuran said he believes Waterstone was honored with the awards for its business numbers as well as his commitment to promoting export from the U.S. out to other countries.

"The commerce department and the Small Business Assoication (SBA), we all want us to export more out of the U.S., and we’re doing that," said Kuran. "So, our numbers were good. We’re doing a little more than half-a-million dollars worth of export right now and we have plans to expand that."

"I’ve had the great opportunity to become part of California Inland Empire District Export Council (CIEDEC)," continued Kuran, who is committee chairman of CIEDEC. "So the edict for the CIEDEC group is to get out there and help people understand the elements of the government that are there to help them, and how to actually connect with foreign entities and to be able to make that export from the U.S. into a variety of different foreign countries. I’m actively involved in that."

Waterstone has been exporting to Canada for four years and is looking to expand its distribution to other countries.

"We're looking at Great Britain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates and Dubai," said Kuran, a Naval Academy graduate and U.S. Marine Officer (Ret.) who started a plumbing business with his father upon leaving the military. "We're also looking at Japan, which is a very difficult market to get into but we’ve got some really interested distribution partners out there that would like to pursue us."

As is the case with his business in the U.S. and Canada, Kuran will zero in on the wealthy in those countries.

"We sell to the top five or 10 percent of the U.S. and Canada," said Kuran. "We really love the high-end, decorative market because they are looking for a particular look. We can design to whatever aesthetic look they want with less of a concern about the where the price point is. We're not a price-point

company."

With no budget restraints, Kuran can get as creative as he pleases in designing his faucets.

"It's been just a blast," said Kuran of working at the top end of a market. "I draw all the designs and I’ve got a great partner, Steve Kliewer. He and I do all the design work together. I kind of draw it and Steve does the mechanical engineering and does all the programming, and now we have a whole team that does that with us."

Kuran said the distinctiveness of Waterstones faucets make them stand out.

"We don’t really look at other people’s designs," said Kuran. "I try really hard to make unique designs so that when you walk into a kitchen and bath showroom and there’s an ocean of faucets, you’ll see a couple of our designs and immediately be drawn to them."

As you'd expect, the rich and famous are Waterstone's clientele.

"We get lots of celebrities but we don't normally promote that," said Kuran, who, after being prodded for just a tiny sample, mentioned Taylor Swift, Barbara Streisand and Clint Eastwood as users of his product. "The faucets go into high-end homes so you never know who they are going to, from football players to entertainers to business people."

Where you won't find Waterstone is in big box stores.

"We sell into a lot of really high-end, one and two owner facilities," said Kuran. "Nine hundred across the U.S., and through our distribution in Canada, another 150 to 175 dealers."

Not bad for a man who started out with "a little plumbing business with my dad's help" nearly 30 years ago.

For more information about Waterstone Faucets, visit www.waterstoneco.com.

 

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