Intra lighting’s Founders Are the Entrepreneurs of 2010

On 13 October 2010, in the presence of Borut Pahor, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Podjetnik magazine and the Chamber of Craft and Small Business of Slovenia presented the 2010 Entrepreneurs of the Year award to Marjeta and Marino Furlan, the founders and owners of Intra lighting. In the justification of their choice, the committee members wrote that Mr. and Mrs. Furlan earned the award through the successful realisation of their highly ambitious business strategy, which stands out significantly from the usual Slovenian standards. Their knowledge and courage are proof that great entrepreneurial stories can also take place in Slovenia.

Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the award was presented on the very day when the company celebrated its 21^st anniversary. When they started out, Marjeta and Marino Furlan had no financing, but they had the necessary vision, courage and persistence to realise all of their future ideas. In the early years, luminaires were assembled only at the company, but then in 1992, serious production began. At the end of the first decade, the founders made a bold decision to redirect the company’s activities to the production of architectural luminaires with in-house designs. Intra lighting remains one of the few companies in the world to have successfully completed this transition. One of the main reasons may be that they have always devoted so much attention to the quality and modularity of luminaires and to innovation. In the last decade, the company has been expanding to foreign markets. By purchasing a luminaire plant in Croatia in 2001 and a production space in Serbia in 2008, Intra lighting secured suitable possibilities for expanding production and specialising individual production plants. Production of the most technologically demanding luminaires still takes place in Miren, near Nova Gorica, where the company has its registered office. In addition to production companies, Intra lighting has also been establishing product marketing companies abroad. With the help of subsidiary companies in the Netherlands, Croatia, Serbia, Denmark and Slovenia and through its representative offices and agents, Intra lighting currently exports its products to 41 countries worldwide.

In recent years, the company has specialised in the production of luminaires for business spaces, public buildings, shops, shopping malls and entertainment venues. A development orientation and a focus upon customers’ various needs enable Intra lighting to create custom lighting solutions. The company is always looking for new challenges. Their technologically progressive lighting solutions take into account the latest findings regarding the effect of light on the human body. In the new centre for lighting solutions to be built by the company, visitors will be able to witness practical demonstrations of great interior lighting solutions.

At the start of their career, Intra lighting’s founders followed their inspiration. They began collaborating with people who to this day share their vision and great love for luminaires. That is what makes Intra lighting luminaires so unique in many ways. They are distinguished by carefully manufactured details and appeal to customers that demand the highest levels of quality. The creative energy of Intra lighting’s 300 current employees today will undoubtedly lead to many more innovations in the future.