Furniture Today just named our co-founder and CEO Luis Ruesga one of their Upholstery Innovators, and we want to take a second to sit with that. Because this is the kind of recognition that means something. Furniture Today is the most respected trade publication in this industry, and being included in their Home Furnishings 500 is not something that happens by sending a good pitch. It happens because the work speaks loud enough that people start paying attention on their own.
Luis has been building Zuo Modern since 2004. He and his business partner Steve Poon started the company from scratch, two people with complementary skills and a shared belief that they could bring something real to the contemporary furniture wholesale market. Luis handled the finance and operations side. Steve handled sales and legal. Together they launched out of Oakland, California, starting with chairs and never stopping. Over the last two decades, Zuo has grown into a full-line wholesale resource sourcing from 85 factories across five countries, with showrooms at High Point, Las Vegas, and Atlanta, serving interior designers, retailers, and hospitality accounts across North America.
But the achievement that really defines Luis for us is what he did when things got hard. During the pandemic, when most companies in this industry went into survival mode and put launches on hold, Luis did the opposite. Zuo kept showing up to market with around 100 new SKUs at every High Point and Las Vegas show. One hundred. While others were pressing pause, Luis was pressing forward, because he understood that the designers and dealers who depend on Zuo needed new product, not empty showroom floors.
“Every one of them is willing to go the extra mile for our company and our dealers.”
LUIS RUESGA, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, ZUO MODERN
To sustain that pace, Luis made moves that were genuinely bold. He built upholstery manufacturing facilities in Mexico, in Tijuana and Guadalajara, giving Zuo faster lead times and more control over the product. He also led Zuo to become what is believed to be the first U.S.-based furniture company to source upholstery from the Dominican Republic. That is not a detail to gloss over. Opening an entirely new sourcing country, at a moment when the industry was barely holding together, takes a specific kind of leadership. The kind that is thinking about five years from now while everyone else is just trying to make it through the quarter.
And when tariffs started reshaping the market, Zuo was already ahead of it. The made-in-Mexico collection was ready, bench-made, with four-week lead times and distribution out of California, Florida, and Guadalajara. Luis had built the infrastructure before anyone told him he would need it.
This is also not the first time Furniture Today has recognized Luis. He was on their “20 People to Watch” list in 2022. this is not a surprise to the people who have been paying attention. It is a confirmation of what those of us who work alongside him have known for a long time.
What strikes us most about Luis is that every time he has been recognized, his first response is to talk about the people around him. He says the credit belongs to the team. He says every person at Zuo is willing to go the extra mile. He means it every single time, and that is exactly the kind of person who deserves to have their name in a publication like Furniture Today.
So Luis, this one is for you.
Congratulations on being named an Upholstery Innovator. It is well deserved, and we could not be more proud.
