The new Damac Residenze by Fendi Casa oozes urban chic and style – but it’s not quite what you might expect from the luxurious Italian fashion brand.
Here, you can forget about ubiquitous FF motif embellishments at every turn, as ostentatious displays of the double-F logo are out. Instead, you have signature design elements that are immediately recognisable in their own right to a brand connoisseur. Fendi’s chief executive, Pietro Beccari, is already credited with boosting Fendi brand equity and enhancing its desirability and exclusivity. He’s also been lauded for positioning it ahead of its sister company Louis Vuitton in the brand stakes and broadening its consumer appeal. The Fendi of today is all about design; it’s subtle and distinctive and inhabits a whole new sophisticated sphere of appeal.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the recently launched Damac Residenze show apartment in Dubai Marina. Ziad El Chaar, the managing director of Damac Properties, highlights the appeal of the Fendi tie-up as he shows me around the space. “In order for a developer like us to partner with a design brand, that brand should have a heritage of design, and Fendi has had this heritage since they started. They were in leather, fur, fashion and they were in furniture. They have been manufacturing furniture for so many years and they have been doing interiors for cars and yachts, and furnishing some of the best penthouses and palaces around the world.”
El Chaar is passionate about the quality of the materials and finishes for the project. “I don’t believe you can easily find other apartments which can stand up against the specifications of these ones. This is down to not only choosing Italian marble, for example; it is the way you lay down the marble. It is the way you paint the walls, the wood chosen for the doors, the wood in the kitchen cabinets, the quality of the bathrooms – all of this is in the specs. And it comes down to the cost and skill of the workmanship, which is superior,” says El Chaar. “Now it’s about distinctive designs, rather than putting a logo on just anything,” he adds.
Some of the pieces for the Residenze were custom-made for the project, while others come directly from the existing Fendi Casa collection. “Fendi is still one of the very few design houses that manufactures its own furniture in a factory not too far from Milan.”
Beccari was closely involved in the project, personally briefing his team about the design direction – because “he is the one who is dedicated to bringing about this new vision for Fendi,” says El Chaar.
“They came back and presented to us, we gave them some comments, which they liked and changed, and we gave them some comments which they didn’t.”
Ultimately, it was the Fendi designers who pulled rank to shape the final look and feel of the project, in line with their own design strategy, yet they’ve also given the Residenze interior a sense of place, with references to Arabesque geometric motifs that are subtly integrated within the scheme.
Damac is now working with Fendi on three distinct branded projects: the Damac Residenze with Interiors by Fendi Casa in Dubai Marina; the Damac Esclusiva luxury serviced apartments in Riyadh; and its most recent release, Fendi Villas at Akoya by Damac in Dubai.
Apartments for Damac Residenze with Interiors by Fendi Casa are located on 40 floors of the building, between levels 43 and 84, and prices currently range from Dh2.7 million for a one-bedroom of about 1,000 square feet to Dh12m-plus for four-bedroom apartments of about 2,700 square feet. For an additional fee, buyers may also opt to work directly with the Fendi Casa design team to create a bespoke Fendi Casa interior to their own specifications.
It’s anticipated that handover of the fully furnished apartments will commence during the second half of 2016. The final product is turnkey, with Fendi Casa fixtures, fittings, soft furnishings, kitchen appliances, crockery, glassware, rugs, feature lighting and so on, all included. Owners will also enjoy elegant Fendi Casa lobby areas, 24-hour concierge, male and female steam rooms, sauna and spa facilities, and a gym, pool and kids’ areas, as well as an Italian cafe facing Dubai Marina.
Completion of the Residenze’s show apartment at Damac’s sales centre in Ocean Heights has been coupled with a limited release of the project’s 200-unit inventory. With premiums for furnished branded real estate running at 20 per cent to 30 per cent higher than for similar unbranded units at the same location, the developer felt it important that potential buyers had an opportunity to properly experience the quality of the product being delivered.
Throughout the apartment, the designers have used long, rectangular strips of Italian cappuccino marble to evoke the warmth of wood, along with the opulence of stone flooring. The entrance hall is rich in colour, with its signature flooring complemented by a series of reverse-painted glass wall panels in dark-chocolate shades, set together with bronze beading. A modern interpretation of wood panelling, it is both masculine and warm, and sets the tone for the rest of the interior.
The Fendi-branded apartments have views of either the sea and Palm Jumeirah or Dubai Marina (and sometimes both). Elements of sky and water are pulled inside, with shades of pale-steel blue on wall finishes and soft furnishings. The palette is blended with taupe, cream, olive, black, bronze and chocolate; the colours are easy on the eye and blend seamlessly.
High-quality Italian craftsmanship comes as standard, and Fendi’s heritage is referenced with real fur throws, Italian leather furnishings, opulent fabrics and richly textured finishes.
The main salon creates a focal point within, with two crescent-shaped sofas upholstered in soft blue, their form evocative of the Palm island more than 40 floors below. Curves are continued with other seating elements, the metal-and-glass layered side tables, the large rug, lighting solutions and other distinct items from the Fendi Casa glassware collection, with round and cocooning shapes.
The kitchen of the show apartment is smaller than it would be in a Damac Residenze, but the quality is obvious. Grey-blue cabinet doors that are individually shaped to fit together like a puzzle reiterate how the design of this apartment is as clever as it is pleasing.
With almost 100 years of experience under its belt, Fendi has distilled the best elements of its heritage to create a sophisticated interior at one of Dubai Marina’s best locations. And this is a Fendi for the future – not the FF of the past.
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