MILAN — Thun, the ceramic ornaments brand name that has obtained a faithful subsequent in Italy for its cartoonish puppets and knickknacks, is banking significant on the submit-pandemic hunger for home decor.
The 70-calendar year-previous company has been on an acquisition spree in order to construct a team that operates in the center segment of the porcelain, tableware and decor markets.
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In early 2021, the relatives-run Thun, started in 1950 by Lene and Otmar Thun, shaped Lenet Team, a multi-business entity that, amid other models, involves a organization-to-shopper division, now bulked up via the acquisition of Unitable, which operates makes Rose&Tulipani, La Porcellana Bianca and Rituali Domestici, all tapping into the affordable industry.
The team — which also delivers 3rd-get together alternatives by leveraging its abilities in functions, logistics, digital abilities, omnichannel and retail procedures — is centered on expanding its decor division, aiming to capitalize on the new industry dynamics about decorating one’s household just after two-furthermore pandemic yrs that have spun new traits and consumers’ ambitions.
“The pandemic has ignited a sturdy request for value-for-price solutions, there often requirements to be some utilitarian component to each obtain,” explained Francesco Spanedda, team chief brand officer.
“It was the right company for us, with a sturdy portfolio of manufacturers telegraphing Italian-ness…and tapping into the middle sector, which I believe has not been definitely explored,” Spanedda reported of the obtain of Unitable.
He touted the portfolio’s various mix, with La Porcellana Bianca giving muted and refined tableware with a nation-chic bent evoking sunlight-soaked tables in the Tuscan countryside Rose&Tulipani tapping into an eclectic aesthetic, very Milanese and Mediterranean, the executive pointed out, and Rituali Domestici generating home decor items these types of as decorative lamps, vases and ornaments with a up to date design twist.
Courtesy of Lenet Group
He explained that in the earlier matching sets were being all the rage, when the pandemic several years have triggered consumers’ need to use table decoration “as a software to express oneself,” supplying way to a surge in desire for mismatched arrangements, which, for instance, are main to the Rose&Tulipani assortment.
“All brands are complementary to each and every other, we purposefully selected to leverage the various synergies and cautiously strengthen their distribution so that they do not swallow one yet another,” Spanedda explained.
Due to the fact the acquisition in January 2021, the Unitable models have seen a 60 p.c bounce in their 2021 turnover, with the house and decor divisions publishing revenue of all around 122 million euros. “Tremendous progress confirmed these were firms with untapped prospective,” Spanedda said.
There is much more gasoline to insert, he claimed, in that all dwelling decor manufacturers could extend their assortment, for illustration in the “slow life” cookware arena for La Porcellana Bianca and with new craze-chasing styles for Rose&Tulipani, or embrace broader distribution and improve their worldwide appeal, particularly for Thun.
The brand name has little intercontinental publicity, except for the DACH area, and the organization is aiming to widen the shopper base by further more leveraging its positioning. By contrast, the Unitable makes crank out 40 % of their revenues internationally and are stocked at Dubai’s Galeries Lafayette, Fortnum & Mason in the U.K. and Williams Sonoma in the U.S., among other individuals.
Courtesy of Lenet Team
In 2021, Lenet Group posted revenue of 127.8 million euros, up 15.5 p.c versus the calendar year prior. In addition to the Unitable brand names and Thun label, the group operates Teddy Friends, an ornament brand name geared at children Luxpets, a significant-conclude pet components marketplace, and Connecthub Logistics & Digital, a company of distribution, method integration and business enterprise intelligence providers.
In January, the group was acknowledged as a Reward Firm, which by Italian law is bestowed on enterprises that goal to produce a beneficial impression on people today and earth and has applied for B Corp status.
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