Inspiration Furniture, a leader in contemporary and modern furnishings and Vancouver’s fastest-growing furniture company, announced that it has broadened its appeal to shoppers yet again this Fall with the opening of its new Italsofa gallery.
Owned by brothers Peter and Steen Skanning, Inspiration Furniture has been repeatedly recognized with awards for outstanding merchandising and its exceptional shopping experience. Most recently, the retailer was honored with the 2011 Best of Vancouver Reader’s Choice Award for Best Furniture Store by Georgia Straight, Canada’s largest urban weekly. Housed in a 40,000-square-foot, historic landmark that was once home to a paper mill in False Creek, Inspiration Furniture’s unique, three-story, five-level building combines 100-year-old timber construction with dozens of windows that flood the space with natural light for a loft-like feel. According to Brad Cates, senior vice president, Natuzzi Americas, the hip shopping experience and architecturally interesting space for which Inspiration Furniture is known made it an ideal candidate for the new Italsofa gallery.
An emerging, international consumer brand, Italsofa offers a new concept in home furnishings design, with a youthful spirit that balances originality and value with innovative lifestyle solutions. “Italsofa speaks to consumers who are young in spirit with solutions for small-space living, stimulating colors and fresh, multi-functional products,” Cates relates.
Indeed, says Steen Skanning, president and owner, Inspiration Furniture, “Italsofa is unique in the marketplace. Combining a younger look and feel and fresh, design-driven products, it’s also easy on the pocketbook. We really like what it adds to our showroom, and the fact that the addition of the Italsofa gallery helps broaden our appeal to younger consumers.”
As part of the launch, Inspiration Furniture staged a special event featuring local Virgin Radio personalities Kiah and Tara Jean from radio station 95.3 FM.
“We advertise in many different media from high-end architectural magazines to eblasts,”
Skanning relates. “In an effort to hammer out the Italsofa look and feel as something younger and different, we brought in the radio station that we advertise on for a live remote on a Saturday afternoon. Of course, they advertised the remote for the entire week leading up to the actual event, during which their most popular personalities, Kiah and Tara Jean, broadcasted from the Italsofa gallery for four hours. Both are fresh talents with great attitudes and senses of humor. They got very excited about the new gallery and talked about it at great length on the air, so in terms of raising awareness about Italsofa, the promotion was a great success for us.”
As part of the special event, “The radio personalities brought with them what they call their Flight Crew to interact with customers, as well as a partner with massage chairs so the customers could enjoy a relaxing massage. It was quite the road show and it attracted a lot of people, who had a lot of fun. We will definitely do it all again!”
For additional information about Inspiration Furniture, visit www.inspirationfurniture.ca.
For more information about the Italsofa gallery concept, visit www.italsofa.com.
Italsofa: Italsofa is the new consumer brand of the Natuzzi Group for those who seek the best of design. It offers European style at affordable prices, with innovative and space saving solutions to satisfy the needs of modern consumers. Italsofa products are distributed globally through Italsofa stores and Italsofa galleries.
About Natuzzi S.p.A.: Founded in 1959 by Pasquale Natuzzi, Natuzzi S.p.A. designs and manufactures a broad collection of residential upholstered furniture. With consolidated revenues of EUR 518.6 million in 2010, Natuzzi is Italy’s largest furniture manufacturer. Natuzzi Group exports its innovative, high-quality sofas and armchairs to 123 markets on five continents.
Cutting-edge design, superior Italian craftsmanship and advanced, vertically integrated manufacturing operations underpin the company’s market leadership. Natuzzi S.p.A. has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since May 1993. The company is ISO 9001 and 14001 certified.