The Hindu Business Line : Striking a perfect pose

There is soul behind these pieces: David Lladro's statement both explains the reason why the Spanish company took to designing figurines based on Indian culture, and celebrates Lladro artists' craft in fashioning them.

In Chennai recently to inaugurate the first of its refurbished boutiques, David Lladro spoke at length with BrandLine on the porcelain figurine company's retail plans for India and its "culture of perfection."

David says India and China will become important to the $300-million Lladro in the next decade. At 40 stores, Lladro's presence in China is much larger than in India — the brand entered Hong Kong around thirty years ago. By end-2007, Lladro is looking at 10 boutiques in India, five new and the five existing ones revamped, to establish itself. "We know the potential is much bigger than 10 stores; these are just to feel the pulse," says David. "We will be ready to move in when there's significant momentum in the market." Real estate also poses a challenge. It's not just the prices but the "collateral environment" which has to suit the image of a luxury brand, which cannot be sandwiched, say, between a fast-food outlet and a rather mass market apparel store, says Amar K. Agrawal, Managing Director, Lladro India, who also sits in on the meeting. "It's only in India that you can find a luxury boutique with six cows sitting outside," he quips.

The privately-held, family-run company is increasingly opting for company-owned and operated showrooms globally, and is doing the same in India too. Over the years, it had been decided that the brand would position itself as luxury and upmarket, and the experience of the brand had to change to reflect that. "We decided that a retail push is the only way to exhibit the brand," says David, and that's why the existing outlets are being redone. In Chennai, for instance, the Lladro boutique is no longer a ground floor store in a mall; it is a three-storeyed affair, which will enable the company to exhibit a much larger range of products. The objective is a quantum leap in customer experience. "The interiors are minimalistic, though warm, to enhance the pieces and enable customers to focus on them; there is space to appreciate and contemplate them, just like in our stores abroad," says David, adding that creativity has to extend to the whole brand expression. "There is an immediate reaction in terms of sales," he says, adding that all Lladro stores the world over will sport a uniform look. In a few countries, Lladro is also sold in the very high-end department stores such as Nordstrom, Selfridges and Harrod's.

Some of the Indian pieces in Lladro's collection have been the Ganesha, the Kanhaiya, the Radha Krishna and the Bharatanatyam dancer. Limited editions some of them, they have done well in the West too. And it's all due to David's initiative, says Agrawal.

"The most successful Indian-inspired pieces have been his ideas. When it comes to making these pieces, it's David vs the rest of us, with him plumping for yet another Indian piece, and each time, it's a bigger success than the rest," he says. So why is David so enamoured of Indian motifs? "We do it because there's beauty, a lot of content, and sell a lot," he says, adding that even as a country, India always draws him back and that he is more comfortable here than in New York, even!

However, not every country accepts figurines based on its own culture, says Agrawal. The Oriental countries will not easily take to a Laughing Buddha but welcome a standard, Western one because their aspirational quotient is high, he explains. Is it because of inaccuracies in form? Isn't that a problem when it comes to replicating a religious figure? "Definitely," says Agrawal, adding that for Lladro, the process of making the Ganesha was an agonising one.

Agrawal spent a year-and-a-half meeting priests to get all the details of the Ganesha right. For the Bharatanatyam dancer, a full-fledged dance recital was organised and cameras positioned at every angle to capture every nuance. "It's this attention to detail that's at the heart of Lladro's technique," says David. And it's not as if the Indian pieces are made with just the Indian buyers in mind, they're bought by Westerners as well, he adds.

Lladro prices mostly range from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20 lakh. The brand is also moving from decorative to functional - it's introducing chandeliers, bath accessories and the like. The company also makes another porcelain brand called Nao, meant for a wider market and sold at department stores. Positioned as gift material, in India, it's sold in 40 outlets and prices range between Rs 1,500 and Rs 8,000. It has also bought the jewellery group Carrera y Carrera which is present in 26 countries.

Lladro is present in 123 countries with eight subsidiaries, 4,000 authorised dealers and its own network of 18 boutiques. In India, it recently formed a joint venture, Lladro India, with its partner SPA Agencies India Pvt Ltd.

The venture plans to invest over $10 million in developing the Indian market. It's eyeing sales of $2 million in 2006 and $7 million by 2010.