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interview
Tokio collection
Presenting tiles in the best
possible way at MosBuild
Leaders in the Europan ceramics market will willingly give their
opinion of the MosBuild event and the Russian construction
industry as a whole. Antoni Arrufat Forrat, Area Manager for
Russia of the Spanish ceramic tile manufacturer Grespania
Ceramica, gave an exlusive interview to CERSANEX Magazine.
How long has your company
been present in the Russian
market? Does it have representatives
or dealers in the country?
Our company has been present for
16 or 17 years in the Russian market.
We have a representative, but
now we are mostly working directly
with the customers. We have the
infrastructure in the company to
enable customers to make their orders
through the agent or directly
to the factory. And we have seen
recently a tendency for people to
work directly with the factory.
How important is the Russian and
CIS market for your company?
For exports it is now our third market,
after France and Germany. We
have around ten collections that
are very popular in the Russian
market. At this show we have two
or three collections especially for
the Russian market.
How do European and Russian
consumers differ?
The difference is mainly the colours.
Russian consumers like shiny colours.
The sizes also, because in Russia we
sell more big sizes than small sizes.
Another difference is the decors, the
decoration. In Spain or in Europe we
don’t sell so much decoration, it’s
more mosaics. In Russia we need
some special decors. Matt tiles don’t
do so well in Russia, but shiny floor
and wall tiles sell well. However, we
have noticed some changes in the
Russian market recently. One thing
I would like to add is that each area
of Russia has its own tastes
and is different, be it Moscow, St.
Petersburg, Nalchik or Irkutsk. Every
year we produce five or six lines
with Russia in mind.
How has the growth of the
Russian market affected your
company?
There is a lot of competition now because
the Russian market is very interesting
for all producers. But we
have worked there for many years
so we have a very good image in
the market. We have a good position
and relationship with our customers,
and we respect the areas where our
customers work. In Russia the personal
relationship is very important.
What new products or technology
are Grespania bringing to
the market this year?
We are bringing new sizes in wall
tiles, 25 x 75. This is a size that
some of our customers wanted
to have, mainly for distribution.
Regarding technology, we are using
more digital printing, which is
something that Russian customers
buy. We travel a lot around Russia,
around factories, and Russian people
understand a lot about how
tiles are produced, because we explain
to them and they also come
to Spain to visit our factory.
In creating your collections do
you work with designers or is
the design done in-house?
There are different ways to work.
One way is designers, another is
being approached with proposals,
some of which may be interesting.
The other possibility is that
I may see something interesting in
some stone or natural wood, or
have some idea, and I take this and
try to explain it to our designers so
that they develop something.
Why do you participate in
MosBuild?
First of all, to show my customers
our new products and secondly to
catch new customers, mainly from
the regions. This is very important.
The regional market is developing
very well. We have participated in
MosBuild for many years and for
us it is a very important exhibition.
The exhibition is an opportunity to
show in a small space what we are
producing. This is very important as
Russian people are very impulsive
and want to see not just a tile or
panel, but a whole display with the
tiles and the decors, so we’re looking
for a fair where we can present
our tiles in the best possible
way. With only one or two tiles you
lose the sense of the collection. It
is also important that Russian people
feel that the company is active
in the market and this is an important
reason to be present at the
fair in Moscow. We look forward
to meeting distributors and also architects
at MosBuild.
Grespania, Expocentre
Pavilion 2, Hall 2, Stand D609
9