Imago Studio has been working in the furniture services market in Ukraine since 2003. The company develops and implements architectural projects, does interior design, and supplies furniture from Italy and of its own manufacture. Imago is the official representative in Kyiv of the Italian factory Cucine LUBE, which produces kitchens.
The team has worked in practically the same lineup since the day it opened — 15 people: sales consultants, designers, a PR manager, production managers and a manager for furniture installation and warranty service, who runs a crew of furniture assemblers.
We spoke with the head and ideologist of the studio, Ninel Martyniuk, and learned the details of her work and about new interior trends among Ukrainians.
- Tell us about the work of your studio, what is the main thing and the priority?
The main goal of our work is to give the client the opportunity to realise their own choice. We are interested in the creative process of creating an interior, and not in selling furniture piece by piece. In this process you have to be not just a sales manager, but to have the abilities of a designer and a psychologist. Every project is individual and unique. To understand the client's way of life, their preferences and interests, to create an exclusive project — after all, a home is the material embodiment of a person's soul — this is very interesting work that brings enormous satisfaction.
For our clients, a comprehensive purchase is the priority. That is why we offer the full range of services: from the development of the design project to the delivery of the furniture, the selection of curtains and the decoration of the space. If the client needs the services of an architect and construction crews, we turn to our regular partners. For many years we have been cooperating effectively with the Vizantiya Renovation Academy, TAM Shatro and other architectural studios.
- Do your clients have common features, what is the composite image of your client?
A very interesting question. Yes, over a long period of work we have, of course, formed a composite image of our client. This is a successful top manager, the head of a large project, a businessman or a politician who has an apartment in the city and often a country house as well. They work a lot and therefore entrust the entire process of selecting furniture to us, joining in only at the initial and final stages. Our client constantly travels around the world, keeps up with fashionable trends, and has preferences in the stylistic solutions of interior design. Our client values comfort and the quality of a product — this applies to clothing and cars as well as to furniture — and appreciates good cuisine and drinks. In their free time they pursue their hobby: playing golf, collecting paintings, antiques and so on. As a rule, they choose the latest generation of home appliances...
- When a client comes to you, how do you make the selection, how do you understand what they need? It is interesting how this happens on an emotional level; after all, you have clear tasks. Do they say: "I want this, and this, and this"?
Most often the client comes to us with specific wishes. Our task lies in the ability to manage the process of communication, to possess the necessary information about the product, and to be well versed in the trends of the furniture market. It is important to be open, to understand the client's feelings and their position, and also to be able to motivate them to ask questions and to act. Having learned the client's wishes, their way of life and their preferences, we create a design project together with the architect. There was, for example, one project where the client did not want to use the texture of wood in the interior — only metal, glass and painted surfaces. We coped with that task successfully, and the client was satisfied.
I repeat, it is important to be not only a professional in sales; it is also necessary to be able to establish emotional contact with the client in order to realise their dream.
- Do you adapt to the client, or can you still dictate to them, that is, is the client always right or not? Or can you tell them what is good?
Of course we can — more than that, it is our duty. Our task is to help the client find their way through the whole variety of styles and the furniture range, to help them make the right choice. Nobody has cancelled the saying "The client is always right". It is the client who makes the decision; the right to choose and the last word remain with them.
- What guides you in choosing products?
We are guided by what today dictates — the "quality-price" ratio of the product. In order to offer our clients a modern, high-quality product, we visit various international furniture exhibitions and furniture factories. It is always interesting, it is development, it is the search for new partners and mutually beneficial cooperation. This is what allows us to be interesting to our audience and competitive. It is important for us to keep up with fashionable trends. We track everything that is happening in the furniture market and in design, and we take an interest in new technologies. We work with such Italian factories as Cucine LUBE, Cattelan Italia, Bonaldo and many other manufacturers who offer high quality and constantly develop and improve their production, use ecological materials and care about the environment.
- Let's talk about market trends. Which ones can be traced now, what in your opinion is important, what should the emphasis be placed on now after all?
The market has changed, the model of consumption in general has changed. If earlier everything was bought for many years to come, now we have begun to treat our homes more lightly and simply. We have become more mobile, we want to change our surroundings more often, we are no longer so attached to any one particular place. Rented housing is becoming relevant. In these new conditions we place the emphasis on mixing the furniture range from different price segments. For example, when offering a bedroom set, we choose an inexpensive furniture factory, but for the mattress, which plays an important role in a person's rest and health, we make an exclusive offer and select a model of natural latex or with pocket springs. When developing a kitchen project, you can choose an inexpensive model with laminated fronts, but equip it with a multitude of functional accessories. Take a quartz countertop, select home appliances of a well-known brand. Such a "mix" is justified and in demand now. We also continue to work with designer factories; their products are more expensive, since the designer's intellectual labour, the newest materials and technologies are built into the price. The products of such factories move the furniture industry forward and impress with their beauty, their proportions and the originality of their design solutions.
- So people no longer put together a "wall unit"?
Yes. The buyer has changed, and the "wall units" are not the same any more either. They have been replaced by light display cabinets, credenzas, library compositions, original TV stands, and for necessary things — built-in wardrobes or dressing rooms. Our own production, by the way, arose precisely thanks to the demand for sliding-door wardrobes. The main trend of today's interior is a restrained style with an emotional accent. Emotionality is achieved through accessories. It may be paintings, photographic works, a collection of souvenirs brought back from travels, original porcelain, antique items. The client does not want a sterile, cold interior, but beauty with cosiness and comfort. In our showroom we also strive to present, for example, not just a table by a particular manufacturer, but to offer the client a table-setting solution, with textiles, tableware and other accessories. The buyer responds to such emotionality, they like it. For convenience and for the visual picture, in our exposition we demonstrate ready interior solutions: a sofa, a coffee table, an original light — a table lamp or a floor lamp from a designer factory.
I believe that the emotional moment plays an important role in an interior. We try to select for our home objects that will help restore inner balance and establish an energy exchange with the world, objects from the contemplation of which we will receive aesthetic pleasure.
- Perhaps there are some special projects of yours, remembering which you always smile?
We had a very interesting story with one property. Our client saw the image of her future country home ... on a decorative tea coaster in a café. And what do you think — that dream became reality! Working on that project and selecting the furniture was a real pleasure!
In fact, practically all the projects we have implemented bring a smile of joy and a feeling of involvement in the creative process. You truly feel like a happy person when you have managed to cope with the task set by the client and the architect, when everyone is satisfied with the result, because we put a piece of our soul into our work.
- Most often you work on architectural projects of entire houses; do you visit them after all the work is finished?
Quite often. I will tell you, this is one of the pleasant moments! When you can see the result not only of your own work, but of a whole team of specialists, when you can see the realised concept.
With some clients, after the handover of the property, we continue to maintain friendly relations and to cooperate, so we visit their homes. They are frequent guests at our events, at the artists' exhibitions we organise, at presentations of new.
- Most often you work on architectural projects of entire houses; do you visit them after all the work is finished?
Quite often. I will tell you, this is one of the pleasant moments! When you can see the result not only of your own work, but of a whole team of specialists, when you can see the realised concept.
With some clients, after the handover of the property, we continue to maintain friendly relations and to cooperate, so we visit their homes. They are frequent guests at our events, at the artists' exhibitions we organise, at presentations of new furniture collections.
I am proud of my friendship with my very first client. I still remember my first kitchen designed in a classic style with stained-glass panels bearing a flower that the clients did not like. I had to persuade the factory to make the stained glass without the pattern, and that is already a custom order. A manufacturer rarely responds to such changes, but the force of my persuasion did its job. When I come to visit them, we always remember that story.
I treasure my friendship with a wonderful client with whom we have been cooperating for more than 10 years. I will always be grateful to the architect who introduced us. In that time she has had children, my daughter has grown up, the trees in the garden have grown tall. We opened and developed our businesses. I became the first client in her salon. I always admire their wonderful mansion and garden whenever I manage to visit, and I am glad that I had a part in the creation of this perfect home.
It is happiness when a company has clients like these. I want to thank our clients for their trust, for the experience we gain in the process of working on a project, for the joy of communication.
We never rest on what has been achieved and we try to develop. We always work at full commitment.
