Susanna Furnishes Hong Kong with Italian Design
It is the city of prophesy and futuristic skyscrapers, penetrating scents on the streets and multiculturalism. It is a synthesis of East and West. This is how Susanna Bidone was introduced to Hong Kong in 1996. She arrived to the city-state when it was still controlled by the UK, after the Italian design company her husband worked for transferred him to oversee this market. "We enjoyed all the many cultural opportunities in the city, during the peak of the pre-handover glory. There was lots to choose from: cocktails, music, theater, concerts, inaugurations, parties, gala dinners," says Susanna Bidone. She graduated from Bocconi in 1985 with a degree in Business Economics with a personalized study track, aiming to manage commercial enterprises. Before heading East, she worked as a management consultant in the banking sector in Italy. After a few years living in Hong Kong, strengthened by the network created within the furniture industry, she and her husband founded Essess Designer Fabbrica. Their company places the excellence of Italian furniture at the service of interior designers for residential, hotel and public space designs. It is a showcase for the design sector, which offers custom solutions and promotes smaller brands that may not be as well known outside Italy but that are high quality.
"These days, Chinese customers furnishing their homes are not just looking for well-known brands, but they want products that also meet their needs for luxury, convenience and understatement." In spite of the highly international climate that characterizes Hong Kong, due to the fact that "here we're all just passing through, we're all foreigners, including the Chinese," local household dynamics greatly recall those from mainland China. Family life is conducted inside the home, which is rarely open to people who are not close relatives. So, "regarding furniture, functionality and comfort, or customization of the design, prevail over aesthetic aspects." This also happens because personal taste is of relative importance; the entire society is based on a hierarchical system that is replicated within the family: "The most important thing in domestic life is the decision of the eldest." The Chinese, in fact, place great confidence in their leaders because they want to be reassured. This is why they "trusting Italian expertise in interior design is comforting for them."
Susanna Bidone is one of the over 500 Bocconi alumni present in China - where on March 11, in Shanghai, will be held the 4th edition of the Bocconi Alumni Global Conference.
Click here to get to know more about the Bocconi community in China and read other stories from Alumni in the country.