Mr Gianni Roveda – The Contract Director of Colombini Group.
Shereen Shabnam
The Colombini Group is a leader in the Italian furniture sector. In this issue we meet with Gianni Roveda – The Contract Director of Colombini Group for a coffee and interview in Dubai.
Gianni has been with the Colombini Group since 2020. He was born in 1973 and graduated in Business Administration in 1996 at the Cattaneo University of Castellanza. He embarked on an international career in Sales & Marketing Management and then specialised in the contract channel.
His previous positions as Sales Director and Contract Director for Brands such as Rosenthal, Thonet and Mutina and being Guest Lecturer with Herts University in Hatfield (UK) has helped him evolve into the professional he is today. We ask him about his career.
What brought you into the furniture industry?
I have a background in the design and furniture industry and have been working for companies in the design industry in Milan and in Germany as well. I also have a background in the tiles business in Italy and spent a lot of time dealing in interior designers.
In the last in the last five years, I specialized in projects. Febal Casa is a brand of the Colombini Group and it is one of the top ten furniture companies in Europe with a turnover of almost €300 million and premium production facilities in San Marino.
Can you highlight the importance of being a unique manufacturer?
We have an approach which we call a total look approach. We are manufacturing not only kitchens but all the interiors you can need in a residential project, office or hospitality development which includes kitchens, wardrobes, bedrooms, kids furniture and everything you need for bedrooms and living areas.
To complement the look, we also provide lounges, sofas and other accessories. The important thing is that we are the manufacturers, so we produce everything in the for the projects. We have local partners with the motto of one partner, one manufacturer, one supplier. So once you deal with Febal Casa with our local partners, you deal with someone who is in total control of the supply chain because we basically manage everything from the raw materials until the products comes on site.
Tell us about your local partners in the UAE?
The partnership in UAE is between Al Shamsi and Colombini Group for the brand Febal Casa. We share same path in terms of business and approach to market. We are in touch daily and involved in implementing unique strategies and being Italian, we select products together with local partners, so it’s a very close cooperation of two strong brands. We are in touch daily with the headquarters to implement the local strategy and focus on the needs of the local market.
For most people, when it is Italian designed furniture, it is automatically premium. What do you think of that?
Being an Italian and working in an Italian furniture company means the curation of design and the approach is taken from the beginning and the selection of finishes and raw products is as crucial as the designers that work on the product. This is the secret of the Italian design approach. We look not only at products but the interior design 360° in order to understand the needs of the design market, the needs of interior designers and then try to make a product that is suitable for the market.
What kind of services and opportunities do you offer the real estate industry?
When the real estate companies deal with Febal Casa, they deal with two strong companies that are well established, financially very solid in their markets. We understand their needs, supply the furniture for the whole project from bedrooms to kitchens and anything else they need as we have our own factories that manufactures everything.
So basically, we offer the whole supply chain from the raw materials until the furniture comes on site. We meet all the needs of the design industry and offer customers a truly unique buying experience. In Dubai for instance, we have an exclusive space where the customer can get a high-quality consulting service, view complete samples and choose from various customised furniture proposals.
We have design concepts for the kitchen, living rooms, bedrooms, kids room as we offer solutions for unique and highly customisable living areas of the home and office.
