IT’S ONE THING to own a luxury item, but it’s a completely different matter to live a life cocooned in luxury. By the time one gets their hands on one of Sovrano’s furniture offerings, we expect that the customer already lives some sort of rarefied existence.

Sovrano, a new concept by Living Innovations (responsible for bringing luxury Italian furniture brand Minotti), presents three fashion furniture brands, all under one roof in Shangri-La at The Fort: Fendi Casa, Bottega Veneta, and Armani/Casa.

BusinessWorld took a tour through their showrooms last week, and felt a little out-of-touch from everything sinister the world might offer. Over at Fendi, how could you feel anger when you’re sitting on velvet chairs edged with blue crocodile leather? It was hard to feel any other sensation but comfort while sitting on a grey Fendi bed with an enormous headboard upholstered in nubuck. There was the feeling that one had intruded upon the home of some Hollywood lioness.

It was hard to comprehend any hint of despair when one sat on a Bottega Veneta chair, made with the rustic elegance conveyed by their woven leather works. The set displayed was completed by a leather writing desk, and a mirror framed in woven leather. Finally, sadness might be left behind at the door when one strokes the patterned silk of the Armani bed. A desk on display was covered with immaculately worked beige leather, while a low console offered secretive, discreet luxury for being so unassuming, but turned out to be covered in shagreen on the inside.

Everything we had just described just fell short or just above the P1 million mark (the Fendi bed, for example, cost about P900,000; the one from Armani cost P1.2 million).

“I’m calling this our second entry to Shangri-La,” said Ferdinand Ong, founder of Living Innovations, recalling that their first Minotti store was built in the Makati Shangri-La (but now occupies a space in BGC).”

Asked why he chose the brands to express his vision. “Fendi, for me, is one of the biggest fashion brands in the world, so it was a no-brainer to get them,” he said. “Armani was a company that I saw had a lot of presence in Asia, and globally. They were also able to create an Armani look distinctly theirs.

“For me, Bottega (Veneta) was just me liking it, so I got it.”

While Mr. Ong’s company is also behind the distribution of Gaggenau (appliances), Bulthaup (kitchens), and Bang & Olufsen (audio systems), looking at his portfolio, he seems to trust the Italians when it comes to furniture.

“Italy is the base of design. I think they create things with flair… their aesthetic is really clean, inside and out. They breathe and do everything like that.” This is after all, the nation behind the notion of la dolce vita. And yet, Mr. Ong finds something in common and close to home with these Italians: “When you see then, and talk to them, they are genuinely, pretty much also Filipino like: family oriented.”

While many wealthy Filipinos have already been furnishing their homes with Italian furniture, surely, it must be a feat to manage to bring all those brands here to set up shop. Mr. Ong recalled his own experiences with bringing Minotti here almost 18 years ago, when he was just 22. “When they first came here, they didn’t want to be here. Minotti was the only brand that I came into that opened up the market.

“They [then] wanted to be here. They believed in a 22-year-old boy to carry their brand for them.”

It’s quite hard to imagine that a 22-year-old with so much energy would decide to make a living with selling luxury furniture, but Mr. Ong said, “I had fallen in love with design ever since. The reason why I started was to educate Filipinos on the essence of ‘Bakit mahal? (Why is it expensive?).’ Maganda siya all throughout (It’s beautiful all throughout). It’s not because kamukha lang siya ng something else (It’s not because it only looks like something else).

“I didn’t do it because I wanted to make money. I wanted to do it because I think there was a purpose for us to do it. I think we wanted to touch, and show Pinoys that Pinoys can [live like] this: if they can also achieve a certain brand, if they follow certain basics of this philosophy.” Judging by Mr. Ong’s words, offering luxury for him is not just a venture, but a vocation.

This reporter once heard someone saying about selling luxury in a developing country: “You have a population of 100 million. Your one percent is still 1 million people willing and able to spend.” Pointing this out to Mr. Ong, he said, “We have more brands than any countries here (in the area).” Of course he meant furniture, pointing out that thanks to the multicultural influences in the Philippines, we’re more open to brands coming here: whether European, American, or Asian, in a variety of aesthetics for each of the aforementioned 1 million one-percenters.

He also pointed out that even luxury haven Singapore does not have a lot of American brands, and leans more towards luxury European furniture brands. The smaller living spaces in Singapore, apparently, also preclude more flamboyant furniture sales. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, land developers are scrambling to create luxury high-rises, and Mr. Ong is simply riding the wave to furnish these. “People now have more focus on spending on homes, and making them nice. We believe that plays a big part in where our presence is. We’re just filling in a need in the market.”

We come back to the notion of selling not just luxury furniture but a completely packaged lifestyle of luxury. Mr. Ong says, for example, that one can match the Fendi bed with anything else Fendi that one already owns, and everything else in the store is completely customizable (if you’re going to drop P1 million on a bed, you might as well be absolutely in love with it). “I think there’s always a certain niche for people who want more. We don’t encourage people who don’t have the means to do it.” — Joseph L. Garcia

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