Showrooms are places where brands communicate their values, involving users with displays that go beyond functionality, and have rather a narrative or experiential approach.

The location of Lualdi's flagship store, the former Olympia Theatre, lends itself perfectly to this type of approach. The company's showroom, redesigned by art director Piero Lissoni, does nothing but respect the nature of the space: the interiors are configured as a long narrative path, in which visitors can interact physically and emotionally with the objects.

The designer tells us: "The former Olympia Theatre is a place for storytelling. The new layout is designed like a theatre set, ready to serve as a backdrop for new tales. In this context, the doors have different functions: either as protagonists or completely hidden, they create a sequence of environments in a sort of artistic labyrinth".

The strategy adopted by Lualdi allows visitors to directly experience finishes, styles and product combinations, highlighting the company's ability to characterise architecture. "Telling a story about a door is a serious matter. A door is a serious thing. It is not a simple hole in the wall: the door is an element loaded with meanings, a real entity that controls and takes care of the space," continues Piero Lissoni. The showroom is designed to represent the company, recount its tradition and define the values behind each product. "The aim is to communicate a true lifestyle concept that characterises the Lualdi offer, based on the production flexibility that has always driven the company's activity," says Alberto Lualdi, CEO.

Custom creations, personalised services and tailor-made solutions have enabled Lualdi to build up a widespread distribution network at an international level, and to be the ideal partner for large contract projects. This is one of the reasons why the Milan location will be the model for other flagship stores around the world, with the aim of increasing the export share, which has been around 65% in the last three years. "We are evaluating a number of locations in Italy and abroad, to be opened either directly or in partnership with our local distributors, to consolidate our position in our reference markets - Asia, Russia and America - and to evaluate expansion into new countries", explains Pierluigi Lualdi, Marketing Director and Head of the Contract Division.

Although the company's perspective is projected into the future, its roots are firmly planted in Milan. As Olga Lualdi, Head of Communications, says: "Milan has a strong symbolic value for the brand, because our history as a design company was born and developed thanks to our close ties with the architects who helped rebuild the city in the 1950s, especially Luigi Caccia Dominioni, an exponent of the Milanese style that marked the history of design and architecture in the second half of the 20th century. Products such as the LCD62 or, several years later, the Super door are symbols of that industrial turning point which, over the years, has become more refined and evolved, marking the company's entry into the world of design".