Paul Gallaher photo.
Chris Kuran, president of Waterstone Faucets, stands with some of his company’s products.

Paul Gallaher photo.
Machined parts wait to be assembled at the WaterStone Faucet company in Murrieta Tuesday, May 26, 2009.

Paul Gallaher photo.
An employee of WaterStone Faucets in Murrieta cleans and assembles some of the company's products Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Andrea Verdin
Staff Writer
Friday, June 26th, 2009.
Issue 26, Volume 9.

With the current economic problems faced by American companies, manufacturers throughout California have been moving overseas in an effort to produce their products less expensively, allowing them a higher profit margin. However, one Fallbrook man has found that his Murrieta manufacturing plant is most successful when all of its products are American-made.

Chris Kuran, 49, president and founder of Waterstone Faucets, has forged a successful manufacturing company that produces high-quality filtration faucets to match the higher-end kitchen faucets sold for designer kitchens.

When it began in 1999, Waterstone Faucets primarily provided top-quality filtration parts and finished components to manufacturers of drinking water systems. But as the news of Waterstone’s quality parts and timely deliveries spread throughout the industry, customers began requesting that Waterstone provide small institutional drinking water faucets in custom finishes.

Kuran led Waterstone’s design and development of its own line of decorative filtration faucets using the best materials and finishes available.

Utilizing the experience of selling certified products to water quality system manufacturers, Waterstone had already created a highly efficient manufacturing system that could make anything it could design while maintaining the highest certifiable quality.

This allowed Waterstone to successfully change from a manufacturer of water quality components to a niche faucet company.

“We always have something new on the drawing board,” said Kuran. “It’s not always easy being an original, but Waterstone is the ‘real deal’ and is very proud to be the best truly American-made faucet in the world.”

For Kuran, who was raised in an entrepreneurial family in Orange County, this was just part of his plan to create a highly successful family business.

After graduating from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, earning a bachelor’s of science degree and serving his country as an officer in the US Marines Corps, he also obtained a master’s of science degree from the University of Southern California (USC) and a juris doctorate (law degree) from Western State University College of Law.

After leaving the Marine Corps in 1987, Kuran started his a plumbing parts company. He went on to direct the operations of a multinational manufacturing conglomerate; however, his goal was to return to his entrepreneurial roots.

This was not an easy transition for Kuran, who, after running large corporations with some 1,100 employees and $60 million in sales, had to start his new business, Waterstone, from the ground up.
Kuran has found that having his own business isn’t just about setting his own hours and being his own boss; being the man at the top also means being the person at fault if mistakes occur. “I was leaving my comfort zone,” he said. “All of a sudden, I went from having a full staff to square one. I was cleaning the bathrooms, drawing and designing. I was the jack of all trades.”

“If a mistake is made, it is very rare that [as business owner] you get a second chance,” he added. “I’ve been fortunate to have great people supporting me.”

Kuran attributes the majority of his success at Waterstone to the support of his wife of 16 years. “Darcy has been there for every change I’ve made in my business,” he said. “She understands that we are an ‘all-in’ business and that, at times, we’d have to liquidate all we had to make payroll. That’s the downside of being a small business.”

Kuran also said his ability to focus on Waterstone was supported by Darcy’s ability to balance any conflicts that arose at home.
As his business continues to grow, Kuran has purposely reduced the amount of time needed to travel and market his products in order to be involved with his family by helping take his children to school and sport practices.

Kuran makes a point to observe “Daddy Days” with his four children, during which he spends time with each child doing whatever the child wishes for a day.

“As excited as I am about the growth of my business, I’m more excited about my kids growing,” said Kuran. “I try to get off of work on time to at least have dinner with my family.”

Kuran believes Waterstone is truly a family-owned business and would like his children to be involved in it one day.

The time and years he has spent shaping Waterstone into one of the highest quality faucet manufacturers has not been in vain; not only does Waterstone have some of the highest quality, high-end faucets, but sales representatives from across the country are lining up to sell his product lines as well.

“We’ve gone from a B-grade company that couldn’t get salespeople to a company that has to be very selective about who we have promoting our products,” said Kuran.

Kuran has created one-of-a-kind designs that had not been seen on the market before, something rare in the faucet market. “I’m a frustrated designer and this allows me to have an artistic outlet that evokes an extreme response,” he said. “People either fall in love or absolutely hate my faucets. That is the true mark of art.”

Kuran’s unorthodox way of creating sinks has allowed him to create his unique designs. “I come up with the best drawings or conceptions while showering or driving,” he said with a laugh. “Showers are usually long, and my wife will know when I’ve been thinking up something because she’ll see my designs on the fogged mirror.”

From those ideas, Kuran and his business partner of six years, Steve Kliewer, work to bring Waterstone’s designs to realization.

Kliewer, who Kuran calls a “world-class machinist,” is usually able to create whatever designs Kuran presents him within a week, truly allowing Kuran the liberty to create new and authentic designs.

Being the only American-designed, engineered and manufactured product that focuses on the ‘designer’ home, some call Kuran’s company ‘the Nordstrom of the faucet industry,’ he said. And diverting any of his manufacturing overseas could be viewed as the kiss of death for this company.

“We wouldn’t be successful if we offered a lower-end product from overseas,” he emphasized. “Waterstone is true to what we want to do. We have created the best faucet in the world.”

The Waterstone line can be viewed at www.waterstoneco.com.