Fires & Fireplaces, 01 November 2000
Montpellier owes a debt to a ‘good duck’ charm!
Eagle-eyed visitors to the Hearth & Home exhibition may have noticed a pair of hand-crafted marble ducks which have travelled to Harrogate for the last three years.
They are a good luck symbol on Montpellier Marble’s stand – and once again they had the desired effect this year when the company built on its 1999 success in the exhibition awards by taking top honours in the £500-plus fireplace category for the Leonardo.
Montpellier had its first major exposure at the 1998 exhibition, and partner Eve Iravani comments, “ We owe a lot to the help we received from Fires & Fireplaces – the magazine provided an excellent introduction to the UK industry and a wealth of information.”
She and husband Michael started the business three years ago in an area of Cheltenham which had been named after a French town founded around an 8th Century Benedictine abbey. The Montpellier title was a natural choice for the new marble company, and the name is now also known in Iran where its extensive range of marble products is made.
The products are dominated by fireplaces but include tables, plinths and accessories. They are all made from local Iranian stone in Montpellier’s purpose-built facility and shipped to the UK as complete units. The production team of 30 is controlled by manager Azam Imani who is one of relatively few women in her country to have progressed to such a senior management position.
Eve reflects,”When we first started, our biggest problem was breaking down the local barriers created by the long-standing popularity of Cotswold stone fireplaces. As marble has become more and more popular, our customers have come to appreciate the value of hand-crafted marble products such as ours.
”With greater emphasis now on the use of natural products in the home, our flexibility with design, colour and shape together with our own production facilities has helped our stockists meet this newly created demand.”
The Florentina
Field support comes from sales manager David Podmore, and Montpellier encourages stockists to dedicate an area of their showrooms to its products. In turn, it provides advice on layout, lighting, appropriate models and discounted display lines.
The Tamara (below) was the company’s show-stopper at this year’s exhibition. Also on display was the Galleria, which Montpellier believes was the first marble fireplace with magnetically backed components which can be used to show customers a variety of design options.
Eve says the camaraderie at the annual exhibition has helped in the growth of the business. “Over the last three years we have become friendly with our direct competitors to the extent that we respect each other’s customers and try not to step on each other’s toes.
”Our stockists have proved enormously helpful in providing us with new product ideas, and we have encouraged their contribution. In short, they have been so helpful that what started as a good idea has turned Montpellier Marble into a profitable business.”