Walking through the hallway, you will reach the constellation square. Surrounded by boutiques like Fendi and Armani, the square has a palatial style with a vintage piano placed in the center.
“The designer built Aquarius as this tornado-shaped tower because it’s the sign representing creativity,” the guide will tell you this and then point to a steel-structure tower beside the piano.
This is not an European palace but a home furnishing exhibition center named Louvre and it’s in Foshan’s Lecong, a town known as the world’s biggest furniture-trading market.
The constellation square in Foshan’s Louvre [PhotoNewsgd.com]
“Louvre was originally a furniture store with the simplest business model. It collected and sold furniture from local brands,” said Chen GuiFang, CEO of Louvre, “at the beginning, we met troubles in introducing international brands or high-end local brands as the quality of the store’s products varied.”
Louvre then set high requirements on products and started taking local brands to attend international expos held in southeast of Asia, Middle East, Russia and etc. since 2003.
Now Louvre has introduced over 2000 high-end local brands and 100 European brands as Fendi Casa, Bentley Home and Armani, attracting a large number of oversea buyers settle in Lecong. These brands also export their products to countries around the world, especially India, Russia, Malaysia and etc., according to the enterprise.
A Canton Tower-liked installation art made by chairs was displayed in the hall of Louvre. [PhotoNewsgd.com]
Furniture enterprise plays crossover with tourism
Foshan Louvre will further its industrial tourism service as it will run a Sofitel Hotel beside the exhibition center. The hotel is a joint program with the French famous hotel group, AccorHotels, and will open in July this year.
Foreign-designed furniture displayed in Louvre [PhotoNewsgd.com]
“Comparing to most five-star hotels, the Lourve Sofitel has 30 types of rooms with different decoration styles and sizes,” said Chen Guifang, “all the furniture and decorations are from our exhibition center, offering a chance for customers to experience before buying. As for the brands, it will be also a chance to promote their products to customers around the world.”
