Full Circle For Montpellier Marble

When Montpellier Marble was created nearly a decade ago, its stated aim was to become a ‘complete marble company’ supplying everything from fireplaces and marble accessories to materials for flooring, wall-cladding and worktops.  Following its recent move to a new 14,000 square foot showroom and warehouse, we caught up with the ever busy managing director Eve Iravani to find out more.

When Montpellier Marble exhibited at the very first Hearth & Home Exhibition in 1997, it displayed three fireplaces with matching accessories including tables, lamps, vases and ornaments.

As managing director Eve Iravani explains, “We presented this concept of a complete marble company in a room setting and it gave the company not only a real lift off, but also the special edge we believe we now have in the marketplace.”

“We endeavoured to portray marble as a user-friendly material and make it a viable option for use in contemporary as well as traditional living spaces.  We felt that showing fireplaces with matching accessories in a home environment would achieve this.  Of course, the fireplaces then took off and we got side tracked somewhat keeping up with the demands of our fast-growing retailer network!”

Trends towards natural stone

Fireplace are still the main drivers in Montpellier’s continuing growth but, taking cues from both local and national clients, the company diversified into natural stone flooring three years ago.

Riding on the emerging wave of the trend for using natural stone in projects, Montpellier has continued to grow this side of the business and is now offering complete bathrooms made from natural stone, including matching sinks, vanity units and shower trays.  Plans are also afoot to grow the kitchen worktop division as the demand for granite work surfaces continues to climb.

As Eve continues, “Our continued growth and expansion would not have been feasible in our former premises so the decision was taken to move to a new purpose-built 14,000 square foot showroom and warehouse space.  Although there is still lots to do, our sensational new showroom is virtually ready and will display our complete range of fireplaces, flooring, bathrooms and worktops.”

As the company heads into its 10th year, it appears that the ambitious aim upon which its growth strategy was predicated is gradually becoming a reality.

As Eve adds, “Once our showroom and warehouse facilities are complete, we will be able to offer a full service to architects, interior designers, specifiers and developers.”

Putting Montpellier on the map

“Our main priority, however, will always be our core market – our national network of fireplace stockists.  Without their support over the years, we never could have grown so swiftly and made such an impact in the marketplace.  Our retailers have always shown eagerness to embrace our new innovations and have helped us to showcase our continually evolving designs to the public.  We are indebted to them for putting Montpellier Marble on the map.”

As the company comes full circle and gets ever closer to realising its dream, the name Montpellier Marble suddenly seems limiting.  A re-branding campaign has recently been launched and the company will now be know simply as “Montpellier” with the brand line “Natural Stone for Every Home”.

As Eve puts it, “It won’t be a big change as most people in the trade refer to us as Montpellier anyway with some even shortening it to “Monty”!

At this year’s Hearth and Home Exhibition, Montpellier adopted the theme of “Timeless Favourites” by showcasing models, many of which are its top sellers and form the core displays of most showrooms the company supplies.

A selection of these were also shown in Portuguese limestone and met with an enthusiastic response from visiting retailers.

In addition, three new designs were unveiled which marked a slight change of direction for Montpellier whilst still maintaining the signature look and fell that their retailers have come to expect.

Of these, the San Marino was this year’s clear showstopper, but the Cambridge and Windsor, which are classic arch designs, were also eagerly received.  The new models are all in production and some of the first units have already been shipped to showrooms.

And what of the famous ‘award-winning’ ducks you might ask?  As Eve concludes, “Every year the ducks have ‘flown’ to Harrogate we’ve achieve high honours in the exhibition awards but as we were so busy and ran out of time to enter this year, we thought it only fair to give them a year off to rest and recuperate.”

By June next year we rather suspect they’ll be eager to spread their wings again.