Lighting Up in Style, the French Way
A high-end retailer of leading French lighting brands is the latest addition to the booming Cambodia property decoration sector. In an exclusive interview, Kollian Koy, Co-Founder and CEO of Maison Bienvenue explains how the company plans to transform the market’s understanding of quality, craftsmanship and beauty in lighting.
What inspired Maison Bienvenue to enter the Cambodian market?
Maison Bienvenue represents the most famous / important brands of French lighting worldwide. Given the close historical links between France and Cambodia, it was just natural to represent
those brands in Cambodia where there is a lack of high-end lighting in front of the increasing number of residential and commercial estates.
What lighting applications will you be supplying in Cambodia?
Maison Bienvenue offers a wide range of high-end lighting hand-made in France in full lead crystal, porcelain, bronze-coated with 24 carat gold and metal with various finishing such as copper, brass, nickel or graphite.
What distinguishes your lighting products from other brands?
The French lighting brands introduced by Maison Bienvenue are handcrafted in France in compliance with a historical expertise that guarantees authenticity and quality, but most importantly respects the European standards which are among the most rigorous in the world.
Each of our brands has its own specificity, style and design:
With BACCARAT, we offer the most luxurious crystal lighting in the world. With TISSERANT, we offer the best of bronze lighting with 24 carat gold gilding.With LUCIEN GAU, we offer French style bronze lighting with various finishing –
Bohemian crystal or rock crystal – depending on the model. With BERNARDAUD, we offer a creative and artistic approach with porcelain lighting for art lovers. And finally with CVL, we propose an alternative modern design hand-made in France for contemporary interiors including residential or commercial projects.
Through these brands, we cover all range of price and all types of needs.
What benefits and experiences can buyers expect when they choose your brands?
The brands represented by Maison Bienvenue are historic brands (Baccarat – 250 years, Bernardaud – 150 years, Lucien Gau – 156 years, etc.) that offer products designed to last over time and are recognised on a worldwide scale. Their products are of timeless beauty and unmatched wealth whose perceived quality is immediate. In our showroom in Phnom Penh, we provide a private and personal welcome and we guarantee a perfect knowledge of our products and our brands. Our advice is tailored to the needs of our customers and to each project. Each of our products can be integrated into a 3D rendering for a decision in context. For demanding customers, we can even make customised lighting with a wide choice of materials, colours and finishing.
Last but not least, we guarantee a direct relation with our brands; which means a competitive price with delivery and installation included in Cambodia and a dedicated after-sales services and the availability of the spare parts for each of our products.
Who are your target customers in Cambodia? Do you intend to target property development projects as well, and if so which kind?
Our customers are, on the one hand, wealthy individuals who want to integrate exceptional chandeliers into their house project. With our products, they can express their taste and difference, in accordance with their social status. On the other hand, we negotiate with professional customers who are looking for quality products in compliance with European standards. That is why we offer the CVL lighting: its contemporary style meets the demand of interior designers for condominiums, boreys, commercial projects and hotels, etc. And our stunning Baccarat or Tisserant brand lighting chandeliers also dress upcoming luxury 5 star hotel projects in Cambodia, just as in the prestigious palaces of the world.
Will you also be offering lighting design services as well as products in Cambodia?
Maison Bienvenue supports individuals as well as professionals in choices of lighting adapted to their project (style, number of light, location, size, colors, etc.). Maison Bienvenue also offers a customisation service on existing products and a custom-made service as well.
What is your assessment of the current quality, range and choice on offer in the Cambodian lighting market?
The Cambodian market is characterised by an abundant supply of cheap lighting made in China, often copied from French or Italian styles that do not bear the mark of a great manufacturer.
The bottom of the market is composed of glass lighting (some falsely called crystal) or synthetic crystal (acrylic plastic which tarnishes with light), the middle market with Bohemian crystal (more affordable but with a limited one year warranty) and the top of the market with Maison Bienvenue lighting brands (crystal Baccarat France with a lifetime guarantee or 24 carat gold gilding with epoxy protective varnish for long term use).
At this level, Maison Bienvenue is the only brand in Cambodia and Southeast Asia today to offer lighting products of this quality, hand-made in France, and to provide lighting in crystal or in 24 carat gold gilding with unmatched customisation possibilities.
Based on your global experience, what are the major issues related to lighting in buildings in Cambodia, and what can be done to overcome them?
The quality of lighting used in the current projects in Cambodia cannot be grasped. The developers only think of lighting in a functional way. Indeed, the
operators reserve a very tight budget for equipment, including lighting. They all rely on design and communication to position their projects at the high-end or luxury market.
On the contrary, we think that lighting has to be a part of the overall design because it brings an aesthetic tonality and enhances the quality of the project.
For example, many projects have a French name because France is still synonymous with quality, refinement and prestige. France and French quality allow for better sales. If they are positioning themselves with this idea of French luxury, our view is that developers need to go further in their approach and include some French lighting in their projects.
We believe it is necessary to have some overall consistency so that the customers of these projects trust not only what they are being told but also what they see and what they touch.
MAISON BIENVENUE PHNOM PENH
# 3, street 466 (OkhnaNhek Tioulong) Tonle Bassac – Phnom Penh City – Kingdom of Cambodia Tel: 093 707 700
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