Beautifying the daily life of its customers is a key Design Holding purpose, according to chief executive officer Daniel Lalonde.
There is no doubt the Italy-based high-end design group is a leader in its sector, comprising brands B&B Italia, Flos, Louis Poulsen, Lumens, Arclinea, Maxalto, Azucena and Audo Copenhagen and producing Fendi Casa through a joint venture with the Roman fashion house. It relies on 10 factories, counts about 2,300 employees, more than 100 designers, its brands are distributed in more than 130 countries, it has more than 6,700 points of sale, and closed 2022 with revenues of 867.6 million euros, up 25.8 percent on the previous year.
Related Articles
That said, in his presentation at the WWD Apparel & Retail CEO Summit in New York, Lalonde attributed the group’s “secret sauce” to simply enabling designers to develop beautiful products for customers in all their living spaces, stemming from a unique business model, leveraging a state-of-the-art research and development platform, and a flexible production and supply chain.
You May Also Like
To be sure the designers and architects working with Design Holding over the years are of the highest level and internationally renowned, from Tobia Scarpa, Antonio Citterio, Nendo and Piero Lissoni to Arne Jacobson, Gaetano Pesce and Philippe Starck, to name a few.
“Designers make ideas come true,” Lalonde said.
The group has received the greatest number of Compasso D’Oro awards — “we won the most Oscars of design,” Lalonde said proudly — and has a presence in museums ranging from the Museum of Modern Art to Centre Pompidou.
The executive provided some context, saying that sales of the global luxury market total 1.4 trillion euros and within that the business of the core high-end design market amounts to 47 billion euros.
The latter “is fragmented, but it has been more resilient than the overall luxury market during COVID, which was a pivotal point, and has now normalized,” Lalonde pointed out. “There have been five structural tailwinds supporting core high-end design growth — cocooning and self-expression; space hybridization; everything but better; wealth ruralization, and further urbanization in emerging markets.”
Wholesale dominates the high-end design business, representing around 70 percent of the total in 2021.
The compound annual growth rate of the high-end design market in the 2019 to 2022 period was 7 percent, compared with 3 percent of the global luxury market. Sales are expected to grow 2 to 5 percent in the 2022 to 2026 period to between 50 billion euros and 60 billion euros.
Design Holding brands “share all traits of luxury across categories,” Lalonde continued, through “superb craftsmanship” and rich heritage, with brands such as Louis Poulsen dating back to 1874, or Flos, founded in 1962. Products are iconic, such as the Artichoke lamp by Poul Henningsen for Louis Poulsen from 1958 or the Arco lamps by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos in 1962.
However, the group balances these with special editions and collaborations, such as Mario Bellini’s Le Bambole sofa in 1972 that was revisited last year by B&B Italia according to eco-design principles, or the Almendra lamp by Patricia Urquiola for Flos last year, which had no glue, said Lalonde.
Last year, the Stella McCartney x B&B Italia Le Bambole capsule collection reimagined Mario Bellini’s Le Bambole armchair with a new sustainable upholstery called “Fungi Forest.” Another collaboration, the Supreme x Flos Bellhop in 2021, sold out in one hour, said Lalonde.
While preserving craftsmanship, iconic products are presented in a modern way, said Lalonde. Cases in point: a campaign showing Rihanna posing on a Camaleonda armchair by Mario Bellini or Rudolf Nureyev and a female dancer nude on a Camaleonda sofa.
Design Holding is now shifting toward direct-to-customer, e-commerce and branded spaces, aiming to offer exclusivity and a “compelling shopping experience in beautiful locations,” said Lalonde.
The group has 19 directly operated stores, and more than 1,050 wholesale branded spaces such as Fendi Casa in Mexico City or Arclinea in London.
Contract is also key, as the group has about 12,000 projects in the pipeline, said Lalonde, showing photos of products by B&B Italia at the Bulgari Hotel & Resort in Paris or in Rolex stores worldwide.
Asked if more acquisitions were down the road, Lalonde said while the group counts “the best brands, the portfolio is never complete,” and more could be added. In terms of sectors, he said the bathroom is not covered yet by any of the group’s brands.
Increased customization is also a focus, and this includes ways to democratize the experience of shopping, which can sometimes be intimidating, allowing potential customers “to visualize what they are going to buy and people feel more comfortable” deciding on the purchase.