Casamia starts custom kitchen design service

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Casamia starts custom kitchen design service

Published: 13 Jun. 2017, 20:20

The C_Lab Kitchen on display at Casamia’s Apgujeong store in southern Seoul on Tuesday. The company provides consulting on kitchen remodeling and furniture tailored to customers’ individual needs. [CASAMIA]

Casamia, a Korean furniture maker, is hoping to strengthen its stance in the country’s growing kitchen furniture market through “customization,” unveiling on Tuesday a consulting service that will help customers redesign kitchens based on their individual needs.

The service will be offered through Casamia’s new brand, C_Lab Kitchen, and includes one-on-one consulting with a company designer to reconstruct a kitchen space according to a customer’s needs. The customer can participate in deciding the color, material and composition of Casamia furniture placed inside a kitchen.

Established in 1982, Casamia’s main product line-up has traditionally been bedding, interior pieces and other furniture for the bedroom and living room. Although it does sell kitchenware, it has only taken up a small portion of sales.

“With C_Lab Kitchen, Casamia will upgrade into an integrated interior brand,” Casamia CEO Jee Cheol-gyu said during a press conference Tuesday.

Prices will differ depending on the space, but a 130-square-meter (1,400-square-foot) kitchen will take around 10 million to 20 million won ($8,850 to $17,700) to remodel.

“The differentiation strategy for our kitchen brand will be tackling the niche market of ‘premium order-made,’” said Lee Hyung-woo, president of Casamiauffia, Casamia’s office furniture affiliate.

Lee participated in the early planning phase of C_Lab Kitchen and remains a core decision maker at the brand even after the sector was transferred to Casamia’s headquarters.

Casamia estimates the local kitchen market size at around 1.9 trillion won. According to Statistics Korea, around 50 percent of the market is dominated by three companies: Hanssem, Enex and Livart. Casamia is banking on growing demand for personalized spaces in the home to expand its share.

“Compared to the past when price was the major criteria for purchasing furniture, consumers nowadays earn more and therefore have higher living standards,” said Ryu Hwa-sook, head designer of C_Lab Kitchen.

C_Lab Kitchen is just one part of the company’s larger interior consulting brand of the same name. Short for Casamia Laboratory, C_Lab has been providing home interior consulting since 2014, on everything from remodeling to “home dressing,” where the company gives advice on interior props and where to place them.

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [[email protected]]