The Framers Forum

Good afternoon everyone in the forum,
I am the representative of the manufacturing company based in the Czech Republic.
Lira a.s. have over 130 years history in manufacturing wooden mouldings.
We are looking for professional partners in South Africa and Latin America who would be interested in becoming our distributors.
Any contact is much appreciated.
If you are interested in searching our products, don´t hesitate to visit our web page:
www.lira.cz
Thank you for your kind advice.
With best regards
Klara Pokorna

Lira was a very familar brand in the UK way back when. A bit of a challenge to work
with sometimes, but the finishes were generally very classy.

I still have some stock which I stockpiled back in the 90s.

I'd like to see more available in the UK.

I have a hunch that they owned by larson Juhl peter, in which case some of the arqadia mouldings come from there. My arqadia rep went on a trip to a factory in Czech republic so i think i may be right.

Welcome to the forum Klara.

The LJ Prague range has made in Czech Republic on the back, nice stuff too, a bit pricey though.

Yes. LJ absorbed a lot of UK suppliers in the '90s which played havoc with moulding supplies.

LJ subsequently pulled out and left a lot of suppliers dangling. That's when Arquati became Aqadia.
The former Magnolia group (inc Scharf/Sisslings/etc) vanished. Not sure of all the ins-and-outs.
AQ carried on a few Lira lines but all the old favourites disappeared.
Round about the same time as the fall of communism. Which apart from anything else had a profound
effect on mouldings supply. Before that the Lira mouldings were very good value. Supply was a bit
erratic. I think importers could only order once a year, so stuff was either out of stock for months or
on special offer because they over-ordered so as not to run out.

The typical wood was finger-jointed pine. You could get ten joins in a stick. Didn't warp though.
With a bit of practice you could get some good strong frames once you learned how to persuade it.

Happy Days.

Hello there!
Yes, that´s right. We are owned by Larson Juhl and still produce and supply moulding to the UK to Arqadia so you get them there from us .
The tour around the factory was great and the UK reps enjoyed it very much .
Anyway, back to the topic. We are looking for some good professional contacts in South Africa or Latin America to expand our business there.
Can anyone recommend?
Thank you very much.
Kind regards
Klara

Most of the regular contributors on the forum are firmly UK based framers
so probably not many could help. There is one member that comes to mind
who gets around a lot and has a lot of contacts. he hasn't been here lately
so unfair to pass on details, but if he sees the topic he will no doubt speak up.

You could try http://www.thegrumble.com/index.php which is basically the same sort of membership
as here but it's US-based. You might have more luck posting there.

Klara

I remember LIRA well, enjoyed a few visits and meetings Mr Nekovarik.
I can help you with Latin America and have sent you an email

Best regards

Keith HEWITT

He has spoken!

Good morning everyone,
it seems that Keith can help.
This forum seems to be very useful tool for communication.
Thank you very much.
Klara
Lira