After Singapore, it’s time for Kuwait City. The Middle Eastern market is a bridge between Europe and the Far East, permitting Barovier&Toso to operate in an area where luxury design Made in Italy is sought after and coveted. In a span of two months, this is the third new facility for the brand, confirming a strategy based on consolidation on national and international markets, through the creation of new single-brand stores.
To concentrate investment in this type of initiative means growing and expanding, keeping the spotlight on the brand and the value of its products. The idea is to condense factors of recognition in a representative physical space, a fulcrum for networking with professionals and buyers.
Designed by vandersandestudio, the showroom is a true gem of interior design. In stylistic terms it references the flagship store in Milan, concentrating its characteristics and atmospheres in a smaller space that has been carefully crafted down to the smallest details.
Reddish brown, petroleum blue and beige are the colours cladding the architecture, to generate a combination of seductive, sophisticated textures, driven by the skilful juxtaposition of ceramics, fabrics, metals and marble. In this setting, amidst iridescent veins, dazzling colours and material contrasts, the creations of Barovier&Toso are enhanced to reveal all their beauty and uniqueness, traits that point to the versatility of the products at the same time.
The space is organized on a single level, with a totally glazed entrance wall and an outer frame in black metal with a glossy white lacquer logo. Inside, the showroom is subdivided into two warm, welcoming living areas, furnished with iconic Italian design pieces created by figures like Gio Ponti, Gaetano Pesce and Marco Zanuso, now produced by Cassina.
The leitmotif connecting the spaces is the Venetian terrazzo flooring, with segments of green Alpi marble on a pale background. The décor it’s inspired by the famous interior by Carlo Scarpa for the Olivetti store on Piazza San Marco in Venice, a “citation” that will certainly appeal to lovers of signature design. Made in Italy returns in the glazed ceramic surfaces by Mutina, with a three-dimensional motif, in the drapes by Dedar and the wallcoverings by Misha, which range from silk organza fabrics applied on metal to artistic magnolias on a petroleum blue background from the Asia collection.
The showroom presents a remarkable selection of products by Barovier&Toso, ranging from the more recent collections like Opera and Padma to the great classics, such as Camparino and Venezia 1295. Chandeliers, table lamps, suspensions, wall and floor lamps: all the categories are covered, at times in multiple interpretations of the same collection, as in the cases of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and New Felci. On the walls, archival photographs in black and white are joined by reproductions of original sketches, to round out the narrative of the company and its centuries-old tradition of the art of glass.
Another fundamental aspect offered by Barovier&Toso inside its single-brand stores is the codesign service available to architects and interior designers. Inside this showroom, a specific space has been set aside for consulting. It is the vetroteca, a samples library created with custom furnishings developed to protect and display all the samples that illustrate the types of workmanship and colours of Barovier&Toso Venetian Crystal in an elegant and functional way.
Thanks to direct contact with clients, the company can provide optimal assistance for purchases or the formulation of highly customized products, an option the company has always been able to offer thanks to the craftsmanship involved in its production processes and its extraordinary, endless know-how.
