Berloni, the Italian furniture manufacturing group, has taken special interest in the design of its Maltese partner's extensive new showroom, export area manager Maria Pia Facondini told The Times Business.
Roberto Berloni, a member of the second-generation of the Pesaro furniture manufacturing family, has been heavily involved in Domestica's landmark Valley Road project, and has contributed to the design, colours and schemes of the floor dedicated to the brand.
Domestica officially inaugurates its new 3,000-square metre, four-floor showroom (200 metres down the road from its former premises) this evening.
The glass-encased building, designed by Italian celebrity architect Enzo Eusebi to blend the indoors with the outdoors, will serve to showcase Domestica's growing portfolio of leading international brands. It features an atrium housing a shop-in-shop, and dedicated areas for kitchens, living suites, bedrooms, and garden furniture, and a show apartment. There will be a floor for contract business for Domestica's manufacturing operation and extra space earmarked for third party rental.
Domestica and Berloni, both family businesses, have been co-operating for 30 years, ever since Domestica founder Leo Vassallo Cesareo signed an agreement with Marcello Berloni, now the group's vice-president, to manufacture the Italian firm's kitchens in Malta. Domestica later went on to import an ever-wider range from the growing Berloni portfolio.
The manufacturers have much in common. They are both run by their second generations and are currently celebrating significant milestones: Berloni its 50th anniversary, Domestica its 40th. Both have evolved significantly from small operations, overcoming increasingly competitive and complex business scenarios in their home markets.
"The Berloni family displays a keen interest in Domestica," Ms Facondini pointed out. "Theirs is more than a business relationship. This showroom is an important milestone in their relationship and is a great opportunity for Berloni to show that it is far more than a kitchen maker. It is a source of great satisfaction for Berloni to be able to show more in Malta so that the brand has greater presence on the island."
Ms Facondini explained how Berloni began as a workshop in a house in Pesaro, where brothers Marcello and Antonio made the one-block kitchen fashionable at the time.
Spurred by the growth of the area's industrial community, Mobili Berloni was established in 1960 specialising in the industrial production of kitchen furniture. The brand was a success.
By the 1970s Berloni was ready to venture into other areas and established, among others, Iterby, an operation dedicated to office furnishings, and Indel B, a developer of refrigeration systems for transport vehicles and hotels.
Berloni turned a crucial corner in 1996 when it acquired a portfolio of companies specialising in furnishings production, allowing the group to develop more complete ranges to penetrate new market segments.
The Berloni Holding Company was created in 2001 under the chairmanship of Antonio Berloni with Berloni SpA as its flagship and 15 subsidiary operations.
With an annual turnover of €130 million (40 per cent of which stemming from export), the group has 850 employees and 11 manufacturing facilities.
Over the years, the fully-fledged industrial group has evolved its furniture range in accordance with customers' changing attitude to their homes. Berloni endeavoured to increase its customer base by making its furniture more accessible: It introduced a medium range to its previously high range-only portfolio.
"The quality is of the same exacting standards," Ms Facondini emphasised, "but more customers identified with the design characteristics and Berloni's brand and spirit. There was also increased research in new materials. Berloni now has 650 points of sale in 50 countries, including 100 exclusive stores in collaboration with local partners. Berloni has gone down this route to ensure there is continuity of relations with its close affiliates."
Ms Facondini said the Berlonis continued to be heavily involved in the sprawling business which maintains the values of a family company.
Domestica, now steered by managing director Chris Vassallo Cesareo and his sister Francesca, the sales and marketing director, has a staff complement of 40 (besides sub-contracted staff) including managers.
Meanwhile, Berloni has endeavoured to give back to its loyal markets at home and overseas. In 1985, it established its own charity, the Berloni Foundation, which has worked tirelessly to raise awareness on and support research into thalassemia and other genetic conditions.
It has awarded research grants to specialists in Italy and overseas to improve the treatment of thalassemia and bone marrow transplants. Its efforts have been endorsed by numerous celebrities including Luciano Pavarotti, Gianluca Vialli, Monica Vitti, Bud Spencer, Jose Carreras and Valentino Rossi.