Moroso to open dedicated London store

Moroso has confirmed it is looking to open a dedicated London store either next year or in 2009.

The Italian furniture retailer currently shares a showroom with lighting designer Modular Lighting, located at Centrepoint in London W1. The store, which features furniture by Ron Arad, Tom Dixon and Ross Lovegrove, serves the design trade and is not open to the public.

‘We are considering opening our own dedicated store sometime in the next two years,’ reveals sales assistant Frederic Kiehl. ‘It is likely to be designed by [Moroso owner] Patrizia Moroso and [in-house designer] Marco Viola.’ He adds that the store would remain a trade-only showroom.

Moroso is hosting the official launch of its existing London showroom on 18 September, almost 18 months after it quietly first opened.

‘We started Moroso daughter company Moroso UK almost from scratch in May 2006, and felt we needed time to become established in the market. Now that the business is going well in the UK, we are ready for an official launch, which will be focused around four, loosely British, designers,’ says Kiehl.

The showroom will be revamped for the launch, to create four areas featuring work by Ross Lovegrove, Ron Arad, Tom Dixon and Nipa Doshi.

The Moroso UK event coincides with the start of the ten-day London Design Festival on 15 September, during which time the showroom will be open to the public.