We recently had the chance to connect with Anton Kotenko and have shared our conversation below.
Anton, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Design research, without question. I can disappear for hours diving deep into furniture trends, studying new materials, exploring color palettes and innovative shapes. There’s something almost meditative about the process – one moment I’m examining a new wood grain or metal finish, and suddenly it’s midnight and I’ve filled pages with sketches and references.
The fascinating part is how this research becomes creation. I’ll start by exploring what others have done, getting lost in the beauty of their vision, and then something clicks. A new base concept emerges, or I see how we could reimagine a classic form with modern materials. That’s when I find myself again – not just as someone admiring great design, but as someone creating it.
At Hozlsch, this passion for research directly feeds our innovation. Every piece we create carries DNA from hours of this kind of deep dive into design heritage and contemporary possibilities. It’s where inspiration meets execution, where losing track of time becomes finding our next breakthrough.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Anton Kotenko, founder and CEO of Holzsch. We design, manufacture, and distribute furniture that’s built around a simple but powerful idea: bringing nature into homes in a functional way.
Our story started in the wood products business – buying and selling timber. But I kept seeing something that bothered me: beautiful logs and slabs being sent to chipping mills to become cheap MDF material. These were pieces with incredible grain patterns, natural character, real history – and they were just getting ground up into generic particle board.
That’s when it clicked for me. We could save these logs, give them a second life, and create real value by turning them into furniture. Instead of watching beautiful wood become disposable material, we could preserve its natural beauty and make it functional for people’s homes.
What makes Holzsch different is this focus on rescuing materials that would otherwise be wasted. We’re not just making furniture – we’re giving natural materials a purpose they deserve. We work with interesting combinations of these saved woods, composite materials, and explore color palettes that enhance rather than hide the natural character of each piece.
Every piece we create has this story behind it – it’s furniture that exists because we saw potential where others saw waste. We’re constantly experimenting with new material combinations, always with that same goal: making nature functional in the home while preserving what makes these materials special in the first place.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who taught you the most about work?
I wouldn’t say it’s who – it’s more about the things that happened that pushed me to take action, pushed me to think about how to connect the dots. Usually those things weren’t good or happy ones. They were harsh lessons from life, but they developed my perception and consistency in both life and business.
These experiences taught me how to pick people – who to deal with, who to do business with, who to employ. It’s a skill you can’t learn from books or mentors. You learn it when things go wrong, when trust gets broken, when you realize you misjudged someone’s character or capabilities.
From businessmen and creators, I admire Maurizio Riva and his design crew. There’s something about their approach to craftsmanship and business that resonates with what we’re trying to build at Holzsch.
All of these lessons combined into something bigger – a system for life where you can take all that experience, even the painful parts, and turn it into something useful for other people around you. That’s what we’ve built at Holzsch. Every difficult situation, every mistake, every time I had to figure out how to move forward when things fell apart – it all contributed to understanding how to create value from what others might see as waste.
The harsh lessons taught me resilience, but more importantly, they taught me how to see potential where others don’t. Whether it’s a piece of wood headed for the chipper or a business challenge that seems impossible, those difficult experiences gave me the tools to find solutions and create something meaningful from situations that initially looked like setbacks.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
This is not something unique or very personal. Probably that would be to be more patient and don’t agree to something that you truly don’t feel is yours. Don’t get so easily frustrated and let life go on its course, because one of the most essential skills is to see the difference between what you can change and what you cannot, and therefore apply your resources and time accordingly.
I spent too much energy early on trying to force things that weren’t meant to be forced, or accepting opportunities that didn’t align with what I actually wanted to build. When you’re younger, there’s this urgency to say yes to everything, to push harder when things resist you. But some of the best decisions I’ve made came from stepping back and letting situations develop naturally.
At Holzsch, this patience has been crucial. We could have rushed into mass production or taken shortcuts with materials, but waiting for the right processes, the right people, the right opportunities – that’s what allowed us to build something authentic. Sometimes the wood tells you what it wants to become, and fighting against that grain never produces the best result.
The frustration I used to feel when things didn’t go according to plan – that energy is much better spent on the things you can actually influence. Focus your time and resources there, and let the rest sort itself out.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Whose ideas do you rely on most that aren’t your own?
How many of total ideas are original? Each generation has a chance to improve somebody else’s earlier ideas. As I was mentioning before, I admire the designs of Riva 1920, and of course, the heritage of Nakashima. These are probably not those people’s original ideas, but they’re the ones who made those design styles popular more than anybody else I know.
Nakashima’s approach to working with wood’s natural form – letting the material guide the design rather than forcing it into predetermined shapes – that philosophy runs deep in what we do at Holzsch. He understood that each piece of wood has its own story, its own character that should be honored, not hidden.
Riva 1920 showed how you can scale that philosophy without losing the soul of the craft. They proved you can maintain respect for natural materials while building a sustainable business around it. Their ability to combine traditional woodworking with contemporary design sensibilities – that’s something I study constantly.
But you’re right – very few ideas are truly original. We’re all building on what came before us. The value isn’t in creating something completely new, it’s in taking those proven concepts and improving them, adapting them to current needs and possibilities. At Holzsch, we’re not trying to reinvent furniture – we’re trying to refine the relationship between natural materials and functional design, using the foundation that masters like Nakashima and teams like Riva 1920 established.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
Yes, and sometimes it’s a curse, but the way I’m built is that I cannot do something moderately. The way I am raised and probably wired is to do 110% of the job or even more until it’s perfect, even when nobody asked for it. It creates another issue – there is always more room for perfection, which is one of my personal character defects, being a perfectionist.
But over the years I think I have developed the right feeling for when there is enough of doing the best.
At Holzsch, this shows up in every piece we create. We’ll spend hours on details that customers might never notice – the way a joint fits together, the finish on a surface that will be against the wall, the precise angle of a leg. Nobody asks for that level of attention, but I can’t help myself. That’s just how I approach work.
The curse part is real though. You can drive yourself crazy chasing perfection that doesn’t add real value. I’ve learned to recognize when that extra 10% of effort will make a meaningful difference to the customer versus when it’s just feeding my own need for things to be flawless.
But even knowing this, I’d rather err on the side of doing too much than too little. In a world where so many things are made carelessly, where shortcuts are the norm, that obsessive attention to detail becomes a competitive advantage. People might not consciously notice every perfect detail, but they feel the difference in quality. That’s worth doing well, whether anyone praises it or not.
Contact Info:
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Image Credits
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