Mosaic stalwarts

A fairly young Italian mosaic producer, SICIS is now considered the leading company in the world. Extensive research and development, continuous improvements and know-how has helped SICIS to become a master in the art of mosaics. Max Francesconi, Architectural Service for India, SICIS shares the journey of the brand in India.

Neha Malhotra (NM): Can you brief us about the entry of SICIS in India?

Max Francesconi (MF): The brand entered India three years ago with its actual partner in India, Degre7 Impex Pvt Ltd. A very positive response convinced us to take further steps to provide a better service and penetrate the market.  

NM: What are the brand offerings available for customers?

MF: SICIS provides the widest range of mosaic library/patterns/suggestions/inspirations which cannot be found elsewhere. At SICIS creativity is restless. New collections are baked and taken out of the oven every three to four months. We like to customise our products, to suit the unique needs of our customers. Materials like glass, stainless steel, ceramic, wood, natural stones, different finishing, patterns, colours, can be substituted and adjusted, making the world of SICIS an endless source of options.  

Besides covering options, SICIS also stretched its creativity in furnishing elements/objects, again with originality and a great deal of success. A wide collection of mirrors, bathtubs, ball-lights, mannequins all completely covered with iridescent, shiny mosaic chips complete the offer available only for a limited time-period.

NM: Who are your target clientele?

MF: Anyone with a sufficient aesthetic background that can understand the level of quality, passion and efforts behind our creations; someone who will appreciate and consider our products in accordance to their economic possibilities. SICIS is definitely not cheap, but not unreachable. The first two years saw our products mainly proposed to professionals like architects and interior designers, involved in high-end commercial and residential projects. But now we have flagship store opened up to the end user.

NM: What were the challenges faced by you?

MF: The main challenge was to find the proper location for the flagship store in New Delhi. It somehow took us one year of restless research across the city. The high price range of our products was another challenging issue.  We had to go through a process of detailed and extensive information to our interlocutors about production technicalities, and the quality of the raw materials we use. But know as Indians travel around the globe extensively, so more and more professionals are becoming aware of high quality standards.

NM: What are the key areas that you are targeting for expansion in India?

MF: We have finalised a shop in Bangalore, hosted by Stylebox showroom. Another outlet is going to open in Kolkata. The format is very challenging for the dealer, as we are looking at wide spaces and selection of products to be displayed; hence investment and commitment are higher. The shop we are looking at must follow the standards of SICIS showrooms around the world, as a natural extension of them. 

NM: What are the company's future plans for the Indian market?

MF: We are looking to extend our show from a D-5 store, but we do not want to compromise with anything. Hence our expansion in the market will be slow and steady. Besides displaying expansion plans, in the form of important shop-in-shops, we will continue in our main line of prestigious projects.