Conversations with Adam Krutko

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Krutko. 

Hi Adam, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Before we opened the store Ron owned/still owns a web development company that was located in the bottom floor of our house. A few years ago, he moved that business to its current location in downtown Akron giving us 6 new rooms in our house to fill with furniture. We were always attracted to modern styles and began by looking into newly made furniture made in the mid-century style. However, after reading a couple reviews of sofas cracking in half in 2-3 years, we knew that wasn’t the right choice for us (money-wise and for the environment). We began looking into actual vintage mid-century sofas because they had already stood the test of time. So, on the weekends we would travel around and visit various mid-century stores and flea markets. Each piece we found came with a lot of questions that many of the stores didn’t have answers to, like how to get it home when we don’t have a truck, how to get the wood refinished, how to find the refinisher, how to find an upholsterer, how to take it back and forth from the upholsterer. Throughout the years we have learned to be very resourceful and managed to navigate the process and ended up falling in love with the process of finding and saving these pieces. It became a weekend hobby for us to go on a road trip and visit a local store, buy a piece, and fix it up. Eventually, we came to the point that we didn’t need any more furniture but still loved our new hobby. Ron had some extra space next to his new web development office, so one day we were talking about what to do with the space, we looked at each other and decided that we should open a store. We quickly realized that we wanted to do it differently and answer all of the questions that we had about how to get a piece fixed or reupholstered – to be a one-stop shop. Soon after we opened, we found a great upholsterer and surrounded ourselves with creative employees from diverse backgrounds that loved what they did. Shortly after opening, though, the pandemic happened, and we thought we would lose the business. During this time all of Ron’s web development clients put their projects on hold. We were worried about losing both of our businesses and had all of these employees still on payroll, so we decided to build out the website to Sweet Modern to make the furniture process even easier and more transparent to our customers. Now a few years later we have a team of about 10 employees, the best customers from across the country, and a store that we can be proud of that truly lives our values of preserving the stories of these pieces, supporting local craftspeople, and being environmentally friendly. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Our story has certainly has it shares of trials and tribulations. The biggest one was certainly the pandemic. Before the pandemic, we sold the majority of our furniture to local customers that walked into our store. We had to basically reinvent how we sold our furniture, figuring out deals with local shippers to negotiate prices for shipping across the country. When we first started the store, we didn’t even have a truck, we were renting trucks, borrowing vans, and hooking up trailers to the back of my two-door hatchback to find and deliver the furniture. 

When we first moved into our location, we had to renovate the space ourselves, scraping up old carpets and carpet glue off the floors, fixing holes in the walls, painting the walls, fixing the lights, refinishing the old floors. We basically started with only the balance of my credit card and selling the furniture we fixed up to buy new furniture. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We specialize in being one of the only vintage furniture stores that is a one-stop shop where customers can get a refinished piece delivered directly to their home. We a group of creative people from all kinds of backgrounds that loves saving mid-century furniture. Our team can do just about anything, we specialize in refinishing, caning, woodworking, reupholstery (leather, vinyl, fabric), and metalworking. We make sure that your piece is taken care of so that it can last another 50+ years and don’t cut corners. We have never found another upholstery shop that has a woodworking team located there as well. For example, sometimes there are hidden issues in a couch, a joint that gets worn out, a broken spring, or a warped board, that typical upholsterers are not equipped to handle. Having all of the services done locally and in the same building ensures that the furniture gets fixed correctly. 

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
We love having a store that we can truly stand by that shares our same values and surrounds us with fun, creative people. We are able to support local craftspeople, be environmentally friendly, provide our customers with high quality furniture for a decent price, and preserve the furniture and their stories for another generation. 

Contact Info:

• Email: love@sweetmodern.com
• Website: sweetmodern.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweet_modern_shop/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sweetmodern/

Image Credits
Ronald Higgins