For Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni, designing for furniture manufacturer Lema is about creating something better in quality than the day before. When Lissoni, Lema’s creative director, was tapped to design the company’s new flagship store in London, “quality [was] the first issue, the first thought,” he says.
Though this Italian company has been manufacturing furniture since the Meroni family founded it in 1970, the London location is their first company-owned flagship store. It also marks the brand’s expansion into international markets. The store, located in a restored building on Kings Road, with a Dutch facade, hosts the two segments of Lema on two levels: Lema Casa, the company’s furniture line, and Lema Contract, a bespoke atelier that develops made-to-measure solutions for large-scale projects.
“The discussion with Angelo Meroni, the owner of Lema, was to design something like an atelier,” Lissoni says. “‘Atelier’ means the idea to do something bespoke, the idea to design something super personalized around other people.” First Lissoni considered the building and its surroundings – London. The showroom is designed like an industrial loft, a familiar space for London dwellers. It models the “Lema House,” which, like an actual home, dedicates single spaces for bedroom, living room, dining room, library, and others. The company’s range of furniture, designed by a list of star designers, shapes and characterizes the rooms.
