Kare’s 1,000-square-meter space at The Podium offers inspiration with its furniture, lighting, and accessories from its product range.
German furniture brand Kare adds the Philippines to over 200 shops in 50 countries. Located at The Podium at Mandaluyong, the 1,000-square-meter space showcases interior designs, lighting, accessories, and arrangements concepts.
Since 1981, Kare’s core business has been to decorate everything from private homes and offices to hotels and bars. “Our philosophy is delivering a wider audience excellent design products for a good price and quality value. We don’t just sell furniture; we display the things you love in a theatric decoration and ambiance that leads either to rejection or inspiration,” says the brand’s founder and CEO Peter Schönhofen.
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“Our stores are more like a theater that develops and tells design stories from rockstar moods to New York meatpacking loft atmosphere. “Currently, Kare offers about 5,000 options in its product range, and every year, an additional 2,000 are added to its catalog.
Change is constant
Together with his co-founder, Jürgen Reiter, Schönhofen has been running the company for 41 years. While he heads the design, purchasing, and finance, Reiter handles public relations. On their seemingly never-ending churning out of ideas, Schönhofen shares that he aspires to bring “something new and right to the world every day.”
He adds that Kare works through renewal and teamwork. On the other hand, Reiter says that in business, each day brings new and unexpected tasks, “change is only constant.”
Each year, Kare participates in the world’s most significant trade fairs, such as Salone del Mobile in Milan, Objet & Maison in Paris, Ambiente in Frankfurt and imm in Cologne. The company also organizes in-house exhibitions for its B2B customers in the 3,000-square-meter showroom at its Garching-Hochbrück headquarters.
Staying inspired
While they maintain stores and showrooms across four continents, the brand continues to evolve decades after its founding.
“The digital revolution continues to occupy us. Furniture selling operations will change, shops will take on a new role as teasers, and trade fair participants will be completely different,” Reiter says. “The necessary reconciliation of ecology and economy is also pointing in new directions.”
Like their shops, Kare provides design inspiration images catering to diverse tastes on their websites. For instance, the styles they’ve dubbed Modern Pop, Loft Reloaded, Retro Elegance, and Soft Glam, to name a few, display staged spaces decorated with pieces from the brand.
This, and the entire product range, reflects the founders’ perspectives on what design should be. “I firmly believe that no one needs to live with run-of-the-mill furniture,” Schönhofen shares. With a little imagination, everyone can express his or her personality at home with a characteristic look.”
Images courtesy of KARE.
