Business of Home Podcast: Markor's Mark Feng on the AI Opportunity in Design
Host: Dennis Scully
Guest: Mark Feng (Chairman & CEO, Markor)
Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dennis Scully interviews Mark Feng, Chairman and CEO of Markor, a leading Chinese furniture conglomerate with international brands including Caracole, Art Furniture, Jonathan Charles, and Roe. The conversation dives into Markor’s fascinating family and company history, the evolving furniture industry landscape, global manufacturing challenges, and most notably, Mark’s vision for artificial intelligence (AI)’s transformative role in design. Mark discusses his new AI venture, Decor X, and shares candid insights on leadership, innovation, and the balancing act between creativity and commerce.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. High Point Market & Industry Sentiment

• Pleasant Surprise at High Point:
  Despite challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical environments, Mark reports unexpectedly strong sales.
  [03:47] Mark Feng: “September was the best month we’ve had for the past 24 months... Across our four brands, we've seen double digit growth. Traffic has stayed stagnant... but people are here to place orders.”
• Shift in Buyer Demographics:
  The market now sees a 60/40 split between designers and retailers, with designers taking on a larger purchasing role, sometimes even surpassing retail accounts in volume.
• Tariff Fatigue:
  Industry players are weary of ongoing tariff discussions—these are now often handled quickly so conversations can focus on product and business.
  [06:03] Mark: “We talk very little of tariff. Everybody's tired... we just jump right into the product.”

2. Markor's Origin Story & Global Expansion

• Family Roots in the Arts:
  Mark’s father began as an artist and designer, learning through hardships during China’s Cultural Revolution, including supporting his family from age six.
• From Set Design to Furniture:
  Markor’s founder identified a gap in China's nascent interior design industry and then expanded into furniture manufacturing and exporting.
• Breaking Barriers:
  Mark’s mother, as the first from the family to attend High Point, was not allowed in showrooms and had to take photos through the window, highlighting industry biases at the time.
• Strategic Partnerships:
  The company’s pivotal licensing deal with Ethan Allen helped launch its retail operations in China, eventually leading Markor to become Ethan Allen’s largest international distributor.
  [13:15] Mark: “Farouk [Kothwari]'s a very inspirational immigrant story as well. They really connected and shook hands and a deal was made.”

3. Acquisitions and Brand Management

• Approach to Multiple Brands:
  Markor differentiates its brands not only by price point but by ethos and point of view—akin to LVMH’s strategy in fashion.
• Turning Around Legacy Companies:
  The company has acquired and revitalized struggling Western brands—treating them as “lifetime assets” and aiming to build “100-year-old brands.”
• Avoiding Internal Cannibalization:
  Clear distinction and direction for each brand to prevent overlap and competition within the group.
  [15:30] Mark: “I have to steer the lanes... When it's not done well, you start to cannibalize each other.”

4. Mark Feng’s Personal Journey

• Immigrating for Opportunity:
  Mark arrived in California at 14 without speaking English, eventually captained his high school track team, and attended Harvard for both undergrad and his MBA.
  [18:31] Mark: “I joke, look, that the company Markor isn't named after me. I'm named after the company.”
• Professional Rebellion and Return:
  Worked in investment banking (“absolutely hated that job”) before returning to the family business with a mission to modernize and innovate.

5. Global Challenges: Tariffs, Production, and Expansion

• Tariff Strategies:
  Markor has kept production in China due to automation and quality but also invested in Vietnam facilities to stay nimble.
  [31:13] Mark: “Our factories are a lot more automated... When the tariffs... started, we actually started acquiring our own factories in Vietnam.”
• Future Manufacturing:
  The company considers further global diversification—potentially expanding production in the US, Europe, and South America, provided quality standards can be met.
• International Showcases:
  Markor now shows at Salone del Mobile in Milan, catering to their global vision and customer base.

6. Product Development & Data-Driven Design

• Disciplined Launches:
  Gone are the days of launching hundreds of SKUs; introductions are now data-driven, focusing on products with proven potential. [39:25] Mark: “Now we have data, we have knowledge… we draw a line for our designers… We're finding that they're as creative, if not more creative, [with] restrictions.”
• Human Creativity with Guardrails:
  Limiting choice and focusing on clear objectives actually heightens creative output.

7. Leadership Lessons: Blending Art and Business

• Learning from Both School and Family:
  Harvard provided strategy and technical skills; his father taught design and people management essentials. [42:22] Mark: “50% or 60% of my work is all people problems. As you know, it's all about the people... I give my people a ton of autonomy and I let them fail.”

8. Decor X & AI’s Role in Design

• Origins of Decor X:
  Inspired by a Harvard professor, Mark dove into AI, learning coding and building a tool to streamline the visualization and product page process for furniture retailers and designers. [44:22] Mark: “I read a ton of books. I learned Python. I was in nerd mode. And I befriended an AI professor from Duke, and we started this project in our stores in China.”
• Two-Pronged Product Focus:
  • For Retailers: Automated product descriptions, SEO tagging, and AI-generated lifestyle photography customized by market or geography.
  • For Designers: An upcoming tool to simplify mood boards, pricing, and product libraries, aimed at expediting the manual “80%” of design tasks.
    [48:10] Mark: “80% of the work that we all do... is annoying, is time consuming, is manual. So we're not going to try to replace your 20%... but that 80% can be gone.”
• Quality and Accuracy:
  Decor X’s models massively reduce cost and time for catalog creation and in situ visualizations, with meticulous QC processes to avoid the familiar “hallucinations” of generative AI. [51:13] Mark: “There will still be 5% of the time that it would hallucinate here and there. But... we also have a generative adversarial network... a quality control model...”

9. Impact, Disruption, and the Future

• Who’s at Risk?:
  Those who fail to adopt and leverage AI are most likely to fall behind—AI is democratizing creativity and productivity at an accelerating pace. [53:19] Mark: “The people who do not embrace this tool are going to be left behind.”

• Human vs. AI Creativity:
  AI will enable faster and broader creative production but cannot replace truly original, human-centric innovation. [56:01] Mark: “AI is able to cut through algorithm and find using... So I actually think this is great hopes for kind of our industry that's through AI will become more creative.” [56:42] Mark: “Everything that these AI models do is backward looking... it’s always going to be a human that starts with the idea.”

• Executive Attitudes:
  AI is now on the agenda for most C-level executives in the industry—adoption is happening rapidly, though not always deeply or thoughtfully yet.

• AI “Bubble” Caution:
  Mark distinguishes between companies solving real problems and those chasing hype without a clear value proposition. [60:53] Mark: “Most AI companies... are building solutions first without knowing what the problem is. So how we've been able to scale... is we're in it, right? We know what problems to solve.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Company Identity:
  “We're a company that's about innovation and pushing the boundaries of creativity.”
  — Mark Feng [26:05]

• On Blending Leadership Lessons:
  “My father is my greatest mentor, but... from Harvard Business School, it's kind of filling the gaps... The biggest thing that I've learned is leadership.”
  — Mark Feng [42:22]

• On AI’s Impact:
  “It's democratizing creativity. But the people who do not embrace this tool are going to be left behind.”
  — Mark Feng [53:19]

• On Human Creativity vs. AI:
  “AI will get us to do it faster, to do it more. But it's not going to be at the tip of the spear. It's always going to be a human that starts with the idea.”
  — Mark Feng [56:42]

• On Industry’s Technological Lag:
  “The furniture industry and the interiors industry in general tends to have a bit of a lag when it comes to technology, in part because they don't have the budgets to update their technology all the time... Their focus is on creativity and design.”
  — Dennis Scully [55:24]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:36] High Point Market outlook, order performance
• [06:25] Designer vs. retailer buying power at market
• [08:20] Markor family/company history
• [13:15] Ethan Allen partnership and global growth
• [15:30] Markor’s approach to multi-brand management
• [18:31] Mark’s personal immigration/education story
• [22:32] Going public: effects on management/decision-making
• [24:29] Building Markor’s High Point flagship
• [27:54] State of the global furniture industry
• [31:13] Tariffs and supply chain strategies
• [36:19] U.S. and international manufacturing expansion
• [37:34] Salone del Mobile and global design vision
• [39:25] Data-driven product development and launches
• [42:22] Leadership: Lessons from Harvard and family
• [44:22] Launching Decor X, the origin and technology
• [48:10] AI’s potential to transform design workflows
• [51:13] Overcoming AI “hallucination” with QC pipelines
• [53:19] Who is most at risk in the age of AI?
• [56:42] The ongoing, irreplaceable value of human creativity
• [58:41] Executive understanding and AI’s rapid adoption in the sector
• [60:53] AI bubble, real problems vs. hype, and future outlook

Conclusion

Mark Feng’s journey and Markor’s evolution reflect both the enduring importance of creativity and the imperative to embrace change. As Mark weaves together lessons from a tumultuous family legacy, global business management, and cutting-edge AI development, the episode offers invaluable perspective for anyone navigating the rapidly modernizing furniture and design industries. Decor X exemplifies the promise—and the pitfalls—of disrupting creative workflows with technology. Mark’s insights make it clear: the future belongs to those who blend artistry, strategic thinking, and tech-driven innovation.