Luxury Italian hood manufacturer Faber has teamed up with distributor Air Uno to break into the UK market. Rebecca Nottingham went to meet Faber's sales and marketing director, Riccardo Remedi (pictured above) at its headquarters in Italy to find out more...

With no sign of an end to the economic downturn, more and more businesses are searching for ways to expand market opportunities. Following in the footsteps of Greece, Spain and Ireland, Italy is the latest high profile casualty of the economic crisis and Faber is the latest in, what looks like, a long line of Italian manufacturers looking for a presence in additional global markets, including the UK.

Established in 1955, Faber originally specialised in plastics and resins but moved into making ventilation cooker hoods in 1958. Fifty years ago, in 1962, the company produced the Eolo hood, which it claims was the first extractor designed specifically for domestic use, that paved the way for innovative kitchen hood design and manufacturing.

Faber became part of the Franke Group in 1995, and it is this move that has undoubtedly taken the brand to new heights in the market, allowing it to compete on a global level. It now has a total of seven production plants in six countries on three Continents and an annual production rate of around 2.5million hoods.

Going from a modest, independently owned company to becoming a small part of a large business can be a difficult transition. Aside from the complicated job titles - within the Franke Group Remedi, for instance, holds the tongue twister of a title commercial director BU hoods Franke kitchen division - there's the difficulty of fitting in with the strategy of such a global brand.

So where does the Faber brand sit within Franke's global strategy and what it's like being part of such a large organisation?

"Certainly there are pros and cons of becoming part of a massive company like Franke, but thankfully I can say that the pros outweigh the cons," explains Remedi. "The main issue in the beginning was that we [Faber] didn't have a clear strategy because Franke's core business is sinks, of course, and not hoods. Initially it was difficult trying to integrate a hood business into a sink and tap specialist."

Brand strategy
With the transition period well and truly over, Remedi points out that the brand sits well within the group, and is now reaping the benefits of being part of such a strong company. "Now that things are clear for us [Faber] we can really focus on moving the brand forward," he adds. "The owner of Franke is very keen to grow the business within the cooking sector so we see stability and are able to leverage on the solidity of the larger Franke Group."

Investment is the key to the growth of any business, but smaller companies often find it tough, especially in this climate. Remedi points out that being part of the Franke group has opened doors in terms of investment.

Something that the brand has already reaped the benefits of, if the state-of-the-art production facility in Fabriano is anything to go by. Two years ago, at the height of the recession, the company invested in a fully automated production line here, which Remedi firmly believes has allowed the brand to stay competitive.

"Updating your manufacturing facilities in order to improve productivity and efficiency is a strategy any business should follow regardless of a recession. This becomes even more necessary the more competitive the market gets," Remedi says. "Two years ago we invested in a fully automated production line here in Fabriano as a reaction to how competitive the market had become. As a brand we have to use our core strengths in specialist design and innovation as a leverage against the competition if we want to become global leader."

Faber is the market leader in hoods in its native Italy, where one in two is a Faber. It's this success that Remedi wants to replicate in other global markets, including the UK. In 2008, Remedi sought the expertise of Geoffrey Baker, the man responsible for bringing Corian into the UK, to formulate a strategy for Faber to enter the UK.  

"The UK is obviously a key market for Faber, despite the difficult market conditions it is facing," Remedi explains. "When we first thought about entering the UK, in 2007, we estimated that there were around 1.3m hoods. Although that figure, we believe, now sits around the 1m mark, we still see the UK as a very important market for our brand and somewhere that we must have a prominent presence in."

Through Mr Baker, and his company Air Uno, Faber is targeting high-end specialist retailers in the UK and unsurprisingly, considering his pedigree and flair for discovering innovative brands and products and establishing them in the UK, Remedi is confident they have chosen the right partner to get the brand up and running. "We know that Mr Baker, through his company Air Uno, is the right person to introduce the brand to the right sector of the UK market," he says. "The strategy with the UK is to get Faber into high-end kitchen studios as we know that there is huge potential for our brand in the UK."

Leeds-based Air Uno, part of the CDUK group, specialises in distributing luxury cooker hoods and has been supplying the UK kitchen industry with brands such as Faber, for four years. Geoffrey Baker, chairman of Air Uno, is an industry stalwart who is widely credited for unearthing virtually unknown brands and products and introducing them to the UK market as 'the next big thing'.

"It was very exciting to introduce Faber's luxury hood collection to the UK kitchen market some three years ago, under our already well established Air Uno label," says Geoffrey Baker, chairman of Air Uno. "Faber is the leading brand in Italy and we felt it deserved a strong presence here in the UK."

Although Faber has already been available in the UK for two years, the brand is still in its infancy, and despite his frustrations that the difficult market conditions have hindered its progress, Remedi remains confident that the structure and strategy in place will eventually allow the brand to reach its full growth potential.

"Up until now we haven't been entirely satisfied with sales results of Faber in the UK," he admits. "But this, we know, is down to the tough market conditions. What we have been happy with is the communication of the brand to the UK market and how well the profile of Faber has been raised so we are more than confident that Mr Baker is the perfect choice of partner."

During the interview, Remedi admits that both the economic issues in Italy and the wider, global crisis, has put pressure on his strategy to increase the brand's presence worldwide. However, he also proudly admits that in spite of this the company actually grew in 2010 and also performed well in 2011.

Remedi believes investment by Franke in the brand was a key factor in its positive performance in 2010 and 2011 and allowed it to take market share from competitors by gaining important business both with the OEM division and Faber brand. He also puts its success in a turbulent market down to the fact that its target market, the high end, luxury sector, has remained relatively unscathed throughout the recession.  

So what's next for Faber in the UK? Faber and Air Uno are already looking to expand the product portfolio available in the UK, with a range of innovative hoods aimed at the mid to high end of the market, in order to raise its profile and grow.

"Although Faber is predominantly a premium brand, it's not just the high end of the market that requires quality hoods," says Baker. "Air Uno is introducing a new collection of Faber hoods, with innovative technology, aimed specifically at the mid-market. This new collection is the product of a lot of research and development into what consumers really want."  

For a look at how key Italian bathroom manufacturers are approaching the UK market see the 'Made in Italy' feature