Fendi’s luxury furniture and homeware division, Fendi Casa, just opened its first flagship store in China. This is a milestone for Fendi Casa as the brand’s third flagship so far, having opened its inaugural flagship in Milan’s Piazza della Scalla only last year.
Located in Shanghai’s Nanjing West Road, the store’s 765 square meters is spread across two floors and surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glass windows, flooding the store with natural light. The interior design creates a sense of visual harmony whilst also highlighting the brand’s statement pieces, while the signature Fendi marigold also shows up in subtle features across the store.
Alberto Da Passano, CEO of Fashion Furniture Design (a joint venture set up by Fendi and its parent company Design Holdings) said, “Asia, and China in particular, has always been the most important creative hub for Fendi. The location of this boutique in one of Shanghai’s most vibrant and avant-garde neighbourhoods is both a challenge and an opportunity for us.”
Fendi Casa is owned by fast-growing Design Holding, a joint venture between two private equity firms that now owns 10 desirable global brands, including lighting brands Flors and Louis Poulsen and furniture brands B&B Italia and Maxalto. CEO Daniel Lalonde told Business of Home magazine that the ultimate goal is to become the leading global conglomerate of luxury design brands or the “LVMH of home”.
According to Design Holding’s research, millennials in China are entertaining guests at home and working from home much more than they used to. With the younger generation’s developing interest in luxury products, the Chinese market is primed for the expansion of luxury furniture and homeware, which Lalonde believes is positioned comparatively to the luxury fashion market 25 years ago.
“There are some changes in behaviour and, in the market, the behaviour is driving a consistency toward luxury to redefine the home environment,” Lalonde told China Daily in 2022. “I think they want their home to be a reflection of who they are. That’s why we see a lot of interest in our brands.”
