The founding and successor generation of the Zajko family (from left: sons Martin and Michal, and father Jozef). (source: Courtesy of Idona)
When the change in the political regime was about to take place in Czechoslovakia in the late 1980s, Jozef Zajko, an agricultural engineer by profession, came to the municipal office in Bánovce nad Bebravou in western Slovakia with the idea of going into business as a carpenter. Carpentry was at first just his hobby, but later he decided that his family could also benefit from it, and he resolved to take it up full time.
Officials were surprised by his idea, but they issued him with a permit “to provide services to citizens” – the official term for doing business during the communist regime.
However, Zajko had to secure a carpentry education. He employed an experienced carpenter as a guarantor of his business and he has been working for Zajko ever since. The name of the company has also remained the same: Idona, an abbreviation of the first syllables of the Slovak words for interiors, accessories and furniture.
The times were kind to him. After 1989, a number of state woodworking enterprises in Bánovce nad Bebravou failed and Zajko was able to employ several jobless but experienced carpenters in his workshop.
They produced both EUR-pallets, used for transporting goods, and household furniture. The demand was high, because Ikea was not yet on the market and state stores offered only unattractive standardised furniture.
Idona produced atypical, custom-made furniture in small-batch production. These were the main factors that helped the company to break through. However, the family business, which has now been taken over by the founder’s sons Martin and Michal, is growing mainly thanks to its expansion into foreign markets.
