For many, a work of art is supposedly best suited for the walls. But then again, there are a discerning few who can find art in almost anything — breathing life into a piece of common beach shell or even a broken tree branch.
And there are those who have access to the exotic.
René Jules Lalique, the nineteenth century French glass designer, did the world a fabulous favour when he founded the brand after his name. He was famous for his perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, chandeliers and even car hood ornaments and over time, he was quite the talk of the town with his art deco creations.
In 2011, the brand decided to make its way into India, like many other luxury brands, in order to find its place in the homes of the affluent. Bangalore has one of the first Lalique stores of India and Nazima Rahman, one of the owners of the store, says that the changing value system of people in India truly helps the brand to position itself. Excerpts from the interview…
Do you think Indians are warming up to having crystal decorative items at home?
Yes, people are definitely warming up to having Lalique as statement pieces in their homes as they have now moved the value change from necessities to luxuries in the last 15 years. Decorating homes with more and more exclusive and extremely well created regular and statement pieces, which till now were not available in India and were being sourced from outside, particularly Europe with great difficulty, are now seen more regularly.
What kind of collections are available in India? Are they different from what’s available internationally?
All collections available internationally are available here. To give you an idea, home décor products like vases, bowls, bookends, boxes, animal figurines, Hindu mythological figures, lamps, lights and chandeliers are huge, while architectural products like door knobs, wall panels and a wide range of perfumes starting at `2,650, including some limited editions starting at US$1,000 and going upwards, are trending too.
Do you think expensive and exotic home décor products find justice in a country like ours that is in general not as opulent as other rich countries?
There is a huge market for exclusive and expensive home decor products in our country, which has also proved itself with a lot of other high-end luxury brands like Daum, Lladro and Swarovski doing so well and thereby the requirement is more than justified with the entry of Lalique, which has little or no competition in this segment.
India has always been in tune with luxury from ages gone by. In fact, a lot of European luxury brands had their initial foray into luxury with the help and patronage of the royal families of India, the likes of Louis Vuitton and Cartier to name a few. There is an amazing amount of wealth and money in India and Indians with opulent tastes and homes to go with it. Indians have also started inculcating the habits of procuring and owning luxurious products as investments which they like to bequeath to their descendents.
So, there is a huge market which has so far always been addressed by the wealthy shopping abroad. Now that we have made it available here, we hope to not only be there for the traditional collectors but also for the nouveau rich and the new young brand-conscious IT czars whose tastes for exclusivity have matured with time.
This change is very visible with the entry of so many large foreign brands into India in the last 10 years.
How do you position Lalique in the South Indian market, where most home owners stick to porcelain, glass and metal products for decoration — or at the most art on the wall?
To give Lalique its right positioning, one needs to see its products to appreciate its top-of-the-line craftsmanship and artistry.
Porcelain, glass and metal products are now all being copied and mass produced in China and hence have sadly lost their quality and exclusiveness which is the reason why they are being left behind.
The entry of beautiful and highly exclusive luxury brands are being warmly welcomed as a sound investment option as they not only appreciate in value over time but also, with their contemporary decorative elements, fit in very well with the kind of homes which now being constructed and marketed, especially in the larger cities of India.
At Lalique, the artisanal skills and technology, which have been honed over the last 150 years make their products absolutely unique as they cannot be copied, mass produced or replicated; thereby giving it a high amount of exclusivity which is sought after by many an Indian today.
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