Words Damaris Colhoun

Kartell’s marketing and retail director talks fashion, marketing and innovation.

www.kartell.it

Sales have nearly doubled at Kartell since Lorenza Luti took over as marketing and retail director in 2005. The plastics manufacturer is a true example of business Italian style. Claudio Luti, Kartell’s owner and chairman, is Lorenza Luti’s father, and his mother Anna Castelli Ferrieri, was the company’s fabled art director during its innovative postwar years. This spring, Fulcrum spoke to Lorenza Luti about Kartell’s latest business initiatives and research achievements.

Under your direction, Kartell has begun collaborating with fashion designers. What’s the synergy?

My family has a long history in fashion. Before my father Carlo Luti bought Kartell in 1988, he was the chair of Versace and a founding partner with Gianni. My first marketing job was at Ermenegildo Zegna. Kartell’s products aren’t just furniture; they’re somewhere in between fashion and furniture. Our chairs tend to be impulse buys, like fashion products, and our fashion collaborations helped us sell twice as much this year over last.

Why are you promoting Kartell products for hospitals and schools?
The heart of Kartell is about materials, technology and design. There is great demand for design in hospitals and schools and we can produce large quantities of products that meet the highest safety standards at affordable prices. Materials like polycarbonate, which we were the first to bring to furniture design, help us do this. Polycarbonate is used, for example, to make helmets; it’s very flexible and hard to break. Such materials allow us to make multifunctional, versatile and safe products.

Is Kartell responding to global corporate initiatives to “go green”?

There are a few reasons why plastic materials are ecological. Plastic is recyclable; it lasts a long time; and we can throw a plastic product back into a mold and although the new product won’t be pure we can reuse it, like recycled paper. Also, we have reduced packaging and are applying energy savings elements to some of our lighting products.

Kartell is coming out with several innovative new designs by Piero Lissoni. What makes them so forward-looking?

The Lizz chair was the first time we used a gas technique to blow and expand the material from the inside out. It was very difficult to achieve. I think Pop sofa is a signature Kartell product because it’s the first modular sofa made with industrial technology; you can have one or put a hundred of them together.

What other exciting designs or collaborations are upcoming?

This year we’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of Philippe Starck’s first chair, the Dr. Glob chair, for Kartell. At Milano Salone, Philippe Starck will debut his new High-Cut chair, which I think will be a best seller. It’s simple, portable and comes in many colors or in black and white. Also at Salone, we are introducing a new designer to the Kartell team, Tokujin Yoshioka, who will present a new chair for us, called Ami Ami. Tokujin has some very strange, innovating ideas and we feel he can bring some Eastern design know-how to Kartell.

What’s next on the marketing horizon?

At the moment, my main focus is to explore and develop our retail opportunities. We have 100 flagship stores and 100 additional retail shops. My goal is to have a Kartell store in every major international city. The stores really generate turnover and brand awareness for us. They help us spread the Kartell philosophy.