BoConcept adds local colour to contract projects

In the Austrian city of Innsbruck, the contract furniture market is flourishing. Seen from the outside, for a city of just 120,000 inhabitants, the high number of architecture offices located here may seem rather surprising, but to BoConcept’s local franchise owner, Martin Bauer, it all makes perfect sense.

‘Although a small city, Innsbruck is a centre for both business and tourism’, he explains. ‘Innsbruck is home to a large university and surrounding network of suppliers and institutions, which creates a notable number of visitors. The headquarters of renowned glass manufacturer, Swarovski, is also situated just outside the city, as well as a number of important lighting manufacturers. And besides that, we are located in the middle of the Alps with the accompanying skiing and alpine industry.’

Bauer opened the BoConcept franchise in Innsbruck nine years ago and has since built up a substantial network in the local contract market. ‘The hotel sector, in particular, is growing here, and we are proud to be a repeat partner on many of these projects. We have been collaborating with some companies for several years now which definitely motivates us to constantly optimise our service – the client is always the centre of our focus, in line with the BoConcept philosophy.’

BoConcept's design service entails personal guidance on product specification as well as full interior design conceptualisation. With more than 300 stores in 60 countries worldwide, the franchise departments are able to offer architects individual, personalised, made-to-measure solutions for their local regions, including the advantage of sharing a common language as well as cultural references. In 2020, Bauer collaborated with a local architect and entrepreneur on a project which nicely demonstrated the smoothness and professionalism of the BoConcept service.

Despite the ongoing global pandemic – which, understandably, hit the hospitality sector particularly hard – the Austrian hotel group ‘B(l)ackhome’ has managed to grow and initiate new projects at an impressive speed. With the opening of six different locations in just five years, B(l)ackhome somehow created a formula that manages to merge well with the now familiar concept of 'social distancing'. Although perhaps odd to connect this specific and rather pandemic-related term with the conventional idea of hospitality and accommodation, the core service of B(l)ackhome lies in its ability to offer guests full independence: 'Stay yourself', is how they describe it.

Aimed at all types of guests but for business people in particular, who require flexibility on several different levels, B(l)ackhome has created a concept where guests don’t need to come into physical contact with either staff or other guests, check-in is done digitally and the rooms are equipped with small kitchens, making the stay fully Covid-proof.

‘We started working on this project in October 2020,’ Bauer says, ‘conceptualising the interior with our in-house designer and coordinating the logistics of the actual fitting; being well organised is key in achieving a fluid execution. In just three days, we fitted 39 hotel rooms entirely, lighting, furniture and accessories, as well as the other extra elements. Thanks to our storage facilities and the swiftness in relation to our furniture production, we are able to work within tight deadlines.’

He continues: ‘We have known this client for a long time, and he knows what to expect from us. After four years of developing and expanding his hotel concept, the client needed a practical system for the maintenance of the hotel interiors. By working with BoConcept furniture exclusively, the client just has to contact us in the case of any product needing to be exchanged. They even have extra furniture in their own storage, enabling them to fix things themselves.’

Bauer recognises that to be successful in the contract market, they need to provide flexibility and have the means of delivering what the client needs, otherwise, quite simply, they will not get the contract. ‘We have become specialists in this field and to reach that level, we do not need to be in a metropole with an enormous market, we just need to serve our local market in the smoothest way possible.’

© Architonic