Furniture companies have achieved high-end furniture brands

International high-end furniture brand pedigree

At present, the well-known high-end furniture brands in the world can be roughly divided into two categories. Most of the furniture manufacturers from the traditional ones have a long history, ranging from a hundred years to as little as half a century. They are the youngest "new" and have more than 30 years of development. The other type is the fashion big-name group that has "fished the world" in recent years. In 1984, the Italian brand Fendi was the oldest; in 1996, the French brand Kenzo entered, and Fendi found the same foundry Cluh House Italia. Of course, because the temperament and style of these two brands are very different, consumption They will never realize that their furniture is produced by the same Italian factory; in the new millennium, this trend has intensified, and Armani, Versace, Calvin Klein and others have joined the battle group. By 2011, Hermes officially entered the Milan exhibition to reach its climax. Recently, even the Lamborghini sports car has also made a comeback, and cooperated with the famous luxury furniture manufacturer Formitalia to launch the Lamborghini sofa.

According to different geographical characteristics and styles, we can roughly attribute these brands to five systems: British and American, German, Western European (including French, Spanish, Belgian), Nordic and Italian.

Although the history of the United States has only been more than 200 years, many of its high-end furniture brands have a history of more than 100 years, which is related to its inheritance of British culture and lifestyle. "Style" author Paul. Forsell once said that the United States believes that "as long as it is British, there must be a grade", which is a common problem from the middle class to the upper class, which explains why it is the most productive and most extreme English in the United States. Retro style furniture. And if we still have to follow the trend of the second-hand old ones today, it would be ridiculous. Of course, the United States is a master of various industrial models and artistic trends in modern and contemporary times. It has created many independent North American style furniture, but it has more civilian characteristics. Contemporary Britain, through its own evolution, is more avant-garde in furniture design and creativity.

As the world's furniture industry leader in Italy, there are many high-end brands, no less than dozens. But it is the youngest of these systems. We have been accustomed to the long tradition of Italian aesthetics and craftsmanship that can be traced back to the Renaissance, and it is involuntarily labeled as “noble”. The exquisite and extravagant way of life in Florence, Venice or Naples hundreds of years ago is indeed an inexhaustible source of inexhaustible use. But its overall rise is nothing but after World War II. With a little care, you will find that, with the exception of a few brands, most of them were created in the 40s and 50s or the 1960s and 1970s, which coincided with the two generations of contemporary “Italian design”. Today's "Made in Italy" is not a natural high-end. It has also experienced the process of learning from the United States and Northern Europe half a century ago. However, it does not blindly imitate, but quickly draws nutrients from its own tradition and is in research and development. Education, production practices and other aspects quickly established a complete chain and system - that was related to the development of the entire Italian economy at that time, and finally came to the fore.

Achieve high-end seven bright lights

British writer and esthetician Ruskin has summed up the "seven bright lights" that made a great building. Creating and maintaining a brand is a more complex and long-term construction process. Here, we also summed up seven words, both the inner genes of high-end brands and the seven bright lights that illuminate their path to success.

First, quality. This is first and foremost in the pursuit of materials – including the careful selection of raw material textures and the unremitting development of functions. Whether it is a piece of leather or a piece of wood, it must be rigorously tested. It must first meet the maximum comfort and convenience of the function, and must meet the latest requirements in the design. Second is the guarantee of the quality of the finished product and the customer experience. Known as "the most comfortable sofa in the world", Naftuzi has to undergo 230 detailed inspections before leaving each product.

Second, the process. The first is the exquisite traditional craftsmanship. Many high-end crystal brands insist on purely handmade cattle production, or maintain a certain proportion of manual production. Italy's top sofa brand Poltrona Frau, its classic production process is basically the same as a hundred years ago: in the seat frame with hemp and spring steel, suture with hemp, covered with linen and horse hair, and finally combined with down cushion . And its 20 manual leather production steps have become a national intangible cultural heritage. Vicente Zaragoza in Spain and Baker in the United States are excellent craftsmen. Secondly, high-end brands will never be self-styled when needed, but will decisively introduce high-tech materials and processes to improve product functionality or achieve new results. Also Poltrona Frau, in cooperation with PorscheDesign in 1984, first used carbon fiber for recliner production and later developed into a new office collection.

Third, the design. This is the soul of the brand, which ensures the use of functionality while establishing an aesthetic paradigm and style. Why is an Atrek plywood stool different from ordinary ones? The prisoner carries the design philosophy of modernist master Aalto, and the comfort and beauty are wonderful. A powerful designer is the soul of the brand itself, such as Armani. And a strong brand, through continuous cooperation with masters from all walks of life, can also make you always young, such as Roche-Bohois and fashion master Jean Paul Gautier, Walter Knoll and architect Norman Foster - this also has a The advantage, the original fan of the master, may therefore love the house and the future.

Fourth, personality. High-end furniture brands have their own areas of focus, only do what they do best. For example, Kenzo only works as a fabric sofa. Even a full range of manufacturers will establish their leading position and unique personality in a few areas through the combination of the above three, making consumers easy to identify and follow.

V. Tradition. No matter the cultural roots of the brand's birthplace, the brand's craftsmanship and artistic concept, or the legendary experience and genius of its founder or designer, will add to the brand's charm and internalize into a fascinating tradition, or Mouth brand culture. Brands will make good use of these resources and intend to strengthen them. Tradition can also be "invented". For example, the royal rituals such as the replacement of the Queen's Guards by the British have been cited as "old traditions". In fact, in the middle of the last century, the royal family added the affinity of the people and adapted to the TV broadcast. Re-created. During the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Bottega Veneta set up a fully transparent Studio in the Italian pavilion to showcase its handmade leather weaving skills. It is easy for the viewer to represent it as the representative of Italian centuries-old craftsmanship, but it was not supposed to be founded in 1966. of. Of course, this traditional shaping must have the basis and cannot be fabricated entirely out of thin air.

Sixth, emotions. Someone once asked, when people are getting used to watching time on mobile phones, what impact will it have on the Swiss watch industry? This is a stupid question. Almost every watch of the famous Ruishang watch brand has a unique story that can evoke some kind of emotion. For a person who appreciates it, this lack of mobile phones can be replaced. The author of "The Theory of Leisure Classes" Veblen explains the phenomenon: in this type of consumption, it is not the practicality that determines the value of the item, but the prestige associated with the item. "Our love for it is fundamentally a love for their superiority and glory, and it is by no means an objective appreciation of beauty."

This is also the reason why those fashion big brands dare to enter the home industry. They have established a strong emotional identity with consumers in the original field. Now they extend themselves into a full-scale living space, a shrouded atmosphere, and their loyal consumers will be very accustomed to it. .

Seven, time. All the above-mentioned elements need time to precipitate and sublimate. Of course, time will also test and scrub them, and they can persist in themselves without being lost, and finally become a recognized high-end brand.

What are we missing?

Corresponding to the genes of the seven high-end furniture brands mentioned above, we can see what we lack:

Why can't our quality not be picky? Because we lack the spirit of sincerity and dedication.

China is not lacking in handicraft traditions. Why can't it be reflected in our products and can't be our brand foothold and advantage? Because we are not actively discovering, transforming, and applying.

We have to do product "design", but eager to imitate, lacking original spirit. This is not only lazy, but also related to our ignorance and carelessness. We are more interested in "face", ignoring the real experience of consumers, and thus ignoring functional exploration. Our entire society lacks aesthetic education, which leads us to lack of appreciation.

We want to do everything, what is the money to do, and therefore lack of focus and persistence, public opinion personality?

China has a long and rich cultural tradition. However, we have experienced cultural faults, and have not yet consciously continued to restore, public opinion to strengthen and shape? The ignorance and the rigidness of the vulgarization, the vulgarization of the retrospective and the "invention" tradition are more terrible and more harmful than the complete ignorance.

We have not yet done so that consumers are satisfied with the basic quality of the products, what about emotions?

The most critical point is that we lack patience.

The extraordinary development of the Chinese economy after the reform and opening up has already made many companies accustomed to set the growth date for themselves with the mindset of "the road that foreigners have traveled for decades, and we have come over in a few years." . They have become accustomed to the "fast" or even "speeding" development model, but they have not enough patience to build products and brands with the attitude of "as much as possible." In the era of globalization, Asians generally value the labeling of global symbols. Western high-end brands are international in nature. Both quality and image represent the “highest level”. Time has formed a brand history. History has accumulated brand culture. After accumulation and precipitation, it provides a strong support point for them. Their cultural attributes and symbolic meanings give consumers who own them a psychological superiority, which is consistent with the psychological needs of consumers in the country.

This has led to the so-called "high-end" products in China, which must be packaged with a name from a distant country, and the name must be gargle in order to display its distinguished status. The story of the Western century brand has been turned into a planning book filled with gorgeous rhetoric by the Chinese people, but it is just full of paper.

Creating high-end products and high-end brands is a market that is difficult to accelerate. Even if everything you do is right, it still takes time to settle. Therefore, we must first set our minds. Patience, humility, concentration, learning, understanding, observing, practicing with sincerity and tenacity, not opportunistic, not looking for "shortcuts", the accumulation of the first 30 years will help and promote transformation. "Blowing the mad sand to the golden", holding the righteous thoughts, doing the right thing, belongs to our high-end brand era, will come.