Fendi Casa Expanding, Opens First Flagship in Milan
Luisa Zargani
5 min read
MILAN —Fendi Casa is expanding and will officially unveil its first flagship with a cocktail event on April 13.
Located in a landmark building in Milan’s Piazza della Scala, the 7,560-square-foot store marks a key step in the evolution and expansion of the brand, started last year with the joint venture between the Rome-based luxury house and Design Holding, jointly controlled by Investindustrial and The Carlyle Group. Together, they formed Fashion Furniture Design (FF Design) to develop the Fendi Casa business.
The sprawling flagship, with its 13 large windows, is a major statement for Fendi Casa. “Milan is a key capital city renowned internationally for fashion and design hence why we decided to start from there the opening of this first Fendi Casa flagship store, in a truly unique location near Brera and Quadrilatero della moda [the area between Via Montenapoleone and Via Spiga],” said Serge Brunschwig, chairman and chief executive officer of Fendi. “The interior design project fuses the iconic Fendi codes and DNA within an elegant monumental space. We are enthusiastic about the great synergies created with Design Holding and these first months of 2022, we look forward to our future openings in Miami and Shanghai in the near future.”
Founded in November 2018, Design Holding comprises design, furniture and lighting companies B&B Italia, Flos, Louis Poulsen and YDesign Group LLC.
“We chose Milan for the new Fendi Casa flagship opening because of the city’s standing as a global design capital renowned for its creativity, craftsmanship and entrepreneurship,” said Daniel Lalonde, CEO of Design Holding. “Milan is the place where the design industry has evolved over the decades. From the first Italian museum of design (the Triennale Design Museum) through to the historic collection of the Compasso d’Oro Award at the ADI Design Museum, and vibrant events like Milan Design Week, it is no wonder countless design industry leaders and fans flock to the city every year.”
Fendi Casa was previously produced and distributed by licensee Luxury Living, operating through Club House Italia.
The flagship reflects several Fendi signature elements. The arches of its imposing Roman headquarters at the Palazzo della Civiltà are revisited in a frosted glass variation. Marble, concrete floors, brushed steel displays and details as the elongated F logo designed by Karl Lagerfeld also stand out as distinctive Fendi features.
This first opening “is a major milestone in the brand’s strategic development. Situated in the heart of Milan, the boutique is located in an ideal position between the world of fashion and that of design,” said Alberto Da Passano, CEO of FF Design, as the flagship is not far from Fendi’s boutiques in luxury shopping arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and in Via Montenapoleone.
During a preview walk-through, Da Passano underscored the added visibility the store offered to the existing Fendi fashion customer. “It’s very important to enter into the Fendi world with this very strong visual identity,” he said.
He also touted the legitimacy of the project, as a new Fendi Casa plant has been set up in Lombardy’s Brianza region, a key hub for the production of furniture. Also the joint venture allows to leverage in-house expertise, as the development of lighting with Flos, he noted.
“We are credible, this is a strong and serious business, we pay attention to the pipeline,” he said. As per Fendi’s parent company, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, financial details related to the investments and sales figures were not disclosed.
Da Passano, however, revealed that the plan is to open 40 Fendi Casa stores in three years, between directly operated stores and franchised units, eyeing New York and Dubai among the first priorities.
The store will be able to take advantage of the first IRL edition after the COVID-19 pandemic of the international furniture and design show Salone del Mobile, scheduled June 7 to 12.
Fendi Casa will not show at the fairgrounds, but will also open for the first time a Milanese apartment at the back of the Fendi boutique in Via Montenapoleone to showcase the new collections.
Designed internally by the team, the flagship presents a succession of living, dining, sleeping and outdoor areas on two floors.
Pieces from the collaboration with Peter Mabeo, stemming from the creative dialogue between the founder of the Botswana-based design studio bearing his name and Fendi artistic directors Kim Jones, Silvia Venturini Fendi and Delfina Delettrez Fendi, stand in the store.
Six “Gallery Pieces,” part of the Kompa collection unveiled last December at Design Miami, are seen at the entrance to the boutique and in four of its windows: each item, numbered and crafted in Botswana, pays tribute to the country’s artisanal techniques. The Chichira cabinet, the efo and Loma stools and the Foro and Shiya chairs are placed in the store windows.
The Madua chair, originally developed from the O’Lock logo designed by Delettrez Fendi for her first Fendi collection for fall 2021, is displayed at the entrance.
“We will continue working with designers, who add an eclectic approach to the collections,” said Da Passano.
The Five sofa and armchairs designed by Marcel Wanders; the Arches table by Atelier Oï, and the Parsifal sofa and armchairs by Thierry Lemaire, coordinated with the Marrakesh tables designed by Toan Nguyen and the Vittoria sideboard by Cristina Celestino are also all available at the store.
The new version of the Ford dining table is paired with the Doyle chairs, and the Sandia sofa and armchairs, also by Toan Nguyen, are accompanied by Chiara Andreatti’s Astuccio Canes occasional tables.
A new outdoor area is enriched by Piero Lissoni’s Sagano Collection. The Landscape bed by studio Marcel Wanders and the Vanitoso dressing table by Atelier Oï; a living area where the Grand Plié sofa and armchairs by Thierry Lemaire are matched with the Tarsia coffee tables designed by Toan Nguyen and Dimorestudio’s Roma daybed pepper the space.
