Artelia also operates an outlet in the heart of the city at the Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur (All photos: Shahrill Basri/The Edge Malaysia)
If there is one point Covid-19 really drove home, it is to stop saving the pretty plates and gorgeous cutlery for a special day. Being alive, well and together — seriously — is occasion enough. That sobering thought seems to have been shared by millions the world over. Social media channels in particular showcased the explosion of people leaning into cooking and baking at home and, equally important, setting the table to enjoy meals properly.
The style-conscious among us are already well familiar with the concept of a multibrand store. In the fashion world, names like Dover Street Market in London and 10 Corso Como in Milan are immediately recognisable while, closer to home, pioneer Joyce in Hong Kong remains a steadfastly strong player.
Whatever the wares, however, multibrand stores that get their curatorial approach right flourish due to an ability to create the perfect purchasing experience for a discerning clientele. Case in point: Artelia at Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC) in Kuala Lumpur.
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Billed as the first luxury multibrand tableware concept store in Malaysia, Artelia is part of the China Pottery company, which has been exclusively distributing brands like Noritake, Queen Anne Silver, Bugatti and LSA International since its establishment in 1985. “What we want to achieve with Artelia is to curate and refine the luxury tableware business further,” says Alex Toh, its executive director. “We choose the cream of the crop brands, we want to revive l’art de la table ... we want to make each meal memorable, fashionable even.”
One of Artelia’s latest brands is certainly helping to achieve that target. If you have dined at some of the chicest three-Michelin-starred restaurants of late, you would not have failed to notice this brand: Ginori 1735. Founded by the Marquis Carlo Andrea Ginori in Doccia, near Florence in Italy, but owned by the Kering Group since 2013, its products have been flying off the physical and virtual shelves (it is a bestseller on net-a-porter.com and matchesfashion.com), thanks in part to world-class chefs like Massimo Bottura, who swears by Ginori at his restaurants (including Ferrari’s Ristorante Cavallino), and sell-out collaborations with luxury fashion labels such as Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh.
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If you appreciate the whimsical aesthetics of London-based designer Luke Edward Hall, often described as the interior design world’s “wunderkind”, watch out for his wildly popular Ginori collaboration, which should be dropping sometime in the near future at Artelia, according to Toh. “Ginori is such an old and established brand, and yet has the most contemporary feel,” comments Mereen Teo, Artelia’s director. “Some customers come to the store just for Ginori. People are so well travelled now. They know all the best brands. It used to take a long time to build awareness of a new label but now, with so many avenues for exposure, things move very fast.”
Artelia opened in September 2019, and occupies over 4,000 sq ft of space on the third level of upmarket mall BSC — it is guaranteed to be a haven for the house-proud. Apart from Ginori, there is an excellent selection of fine Noritake porcelain and bone china dinner sets and a small selection of Okura Art China tableware, which are used by Japan’s imperial household and regarded as the country’s finest.
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From Turkey, there are Artemis linen placements, vases, candles, home fragrances and the best-selling coloured cutlery sets from Bugatti. “We also tell our customers that, for the Noritake brand, we are able to customise almost anything for a special occasion and offer engraving for silverware and stemware as well.” If you feel you can’t get to Bangsar anytime soon, Artelia also operates an outlet in the heart of the city at the Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur.
This article first appeared on Aug 1, 2022 in The Edge Malaysia.
