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Great Danes think big in the UK

Published: 17-Mar-2009

Its new London showroom will enable brassware firm Vola to develop a closer relationships with designers.

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Forty years in business is definitely cause for celebration and Danish brassware manufacturer Vola is not going to let any talk of recession rain on its parade. As well as an impressive new showroom and training facility at its factory site near Arhus, the company has just launched a built-in towel warmer and is planning a range of pieces for high-end contract projects such as hotels and spas. Vola is also opening landmark showrooms in London and Copenhagen.

“This is the best time to do this,” says sales and marketing director Poul Overgaard, who took over the reins of the company in 1987 with his brother Carsten. “We will come easily through the financial crisis with the krone now twice as strong as the pound.”

The new London showroom will enable the company to develop a closer relationship with architects and designers, many of whom have been fans of Vola’s sleek minimalist designs for years. Sales in London are currently 75 per cent retail based but the new space on Great Portland Street in the capital’s West End will enable architects to come in and discuss large projects with the in-house design team. Not surprisingly Vola wants a slice of the Olympics pie but is aware that a lot of international projects are specified by architects based in the UK.

Vola is not only commercially minded. It has a strong sense of corporate social responsibility and involves its workforce in community arts projects. It also has an environmental conscience and is continuing to tackle the issue of water consumption and as well as recently introducing 100 per cent lead-free brass.

Design has been at the heart of the company’s offering ever since iconic Danish architect Arne Jacobsen first worked with Vola in the 1960s. Vola does not constantly update a vast range of trend-based products but prefers to carefully develop products that add more than just a new aesthetic to its existing range. As with much Scandinavian design, functionality is key. The simplicity of the new built-in towel warmer allows for designers to create their own arrangements.

Careful planning and a focus on quality are the core values the Overgaard brothers have instilled in the company, which should ensure Vola enjoys another 40 successful years.

This article originally appeared in idFX Magazine

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