Greetings from the New World
Maria furniture factory gets along with professional designers.
21/08/2017
Maria factory organized a large-scale event on the occasion of the Karma kitchen collection presentation, designed for it by Karim Rashid.
The company threw a party in a fancy loft at the Trehgornaya Manufactory. More than 500 guests had something to enjoy – a light show from RadugaDesign, electronic music from the young talent Nikola Melnikov, catering with sanctioned foods, selfies with Karim Rashid, who came specially from New York, and provocative photo session against the background of Rashid's kitchens. Moscow social circuit likes and appreciates such light atmospheric parties. Local celebrities and top bloggers, including Ksenia Sobchak, came to the Trehgorka. It is exactly what Maria company was trying to achieve – to organize a holiday, share the aesthetic joy and announce new marketing victories.
Collaboration with Karim Rashid and presentation of the Karma collection is a new milestone in the history of the Maria brand. The company prepared the audience for this significant event for almost a year. In July 2016 it was reported that an agreement in principle for the contract has been received from the iconic designer. At the November exhibition in the Expocenter in an atmosphere of high secrecy, Maria company showed trading partners 15 kitchen concepts, provided by Rashid. Retail professionals appreciated the works of the master. Besides that, the concepts have passed through the purgatory of internal voting. As a result, three models were released: elegant Klutch, futuristic Volna and bright Karma. The kitchens proved to be daring and bold.
Aiming to produce an innovative and outstanding product, Maria attracted the leading Russian company Ligron, which made a glass tabletop with an integrated cooking panel especially for the Klutch model, as well as the American DuPont corporation, which provided artificial stone for all concepts. German Hettich also distinguished itself by developing exclusive hardware, that previously wasn't presented on the Russian market.
Why has the domestic kitchen factory chosen Karim Rashid, whose services are not cheap – this is the main question that puzzles the whole industry. Answering this question, Yefim Katz points out that the main goal for Maria was to find a common ground with professional designers.
“This is a completely meaningful marketing investment,” explains the head of the company. “Five years ago we invited Gerard Depardieu to cooperation and with his help raised the brand awareness in the mass market to 65 percent. I believe that the collaboration with Karim Rashid will significantly increase our fame in the design environment. Working on the lines designed by Karim Rashid, we learned a lot about the possibilities of our own production. Now we feel strong enough to show the market trend models aimed at a sophisticated and very demanding professional audience.”
Karim Rashid is also pleased with the cooperation: “It is a great honor for me to work with Maria company,” the master said. “I wanted to create something original and authentic for the Russian customers. I think I've managed to do it. Working with the factory team was extremely easy. They are people full of enthusiasm, in love with what they do. See how quickly we realized the project! Just eight months – and we present this excellent collection to the world. This is an outstanding result.”
