Rosa Lladró, president of Lladró, the celebrated Spanish luxury porcelain brand, recently unveiled Lladró’s limited edition Goddess Lakshmi sculptures in the city. In an email interview, she shares her thoughts on Lladró’s 12-year presence in India, the intricacies involved in making the sculptures and the ‘Spirit of India’ collection.
What inspires you most about India?
India is an extremely fascinating land, so colourful and full of life. Every time I visit this country I fall in love with the hospitality. Indians have always been in tune with their heritage and culture. There are many Indias within India, that’s how vast the culture is. This is my first visit to Chennai — to unveil and sign the Goddess Lakshmi sculptures — and it has been a great experience for me.
What is your favourite Indian design (in Lladró)?
The set of Ganeshas made by Raul Rubio, from ‘The Spirit of India’ collection.
Is there a Lladró collector’s club in the country?
Yes, we do have a Lladró Gold Club, which is an online club exclusively for Lladró’s best customers and collectors. Members receive direct communication and have access to limited edition sculptures at special introductory prices. Apart from this, they get insurance against breakage covering 100 per cent of the price of any Lladró sculpture (during the first year of purchase). Lladró Gold Club members also receive special and personalised treatment on visiting Valencia and The City of Porcelain.
How should one take care/ maintain these fragile beauties?
Plain water and neutral soap can be used to clean Lladró pieces. Lladró also offers after-sale services, where a team goes to the client’s house / office and cleans the sculpture for them. We also assist customers with their Lladró sculptures, when they shift houses. On special occasions, we also offer gift packaging and festive platters.
Duplicates are often the bane of any high-end luxury product. How does Lladró keep on top of this problem?
Lladró sculptures are manufactured traditionally, employing a long, complex process. Every Lladró sculpture is completely hand-made by skilled artisans at one single factory at Valencia. The porcelain, moulds and colours are also made in Valencia. Using age-old furnaces, we follow 16-steps to create a sculpture; and sometimes, it can take as long as five years to create a new one. This art is unique to Lladró. Hence, it’s very difficult to copy a Lladró sculpture. The quality that a Lladró piece delivers cannot be duplicated.
Does Lladró have anything special to offer this festive season?
Lladró will continue working around the Indian culture and its traditions. In fact, we’re working on two projects — Lakshman and Hanuman — inspired by the Hindu iconography. We are also coming out with sculptures of Sai Baba, and we’ve recently launched Goddess Lakshmi, a limited edition of 720 pieces.
What has been your experience, selling in India?
The Indian market has been extremely warm towards Lladró. The brand entered the country in the year 2000. Since then we have been growing every year. New products/sculptures are made available across our stores here, as they are globally. Signing and sculptor events are held on a regular basis to strengthen our bond with the Indian consumer. In my opinion all our customers come to us for sentimental reason. When they buy a sculpture at Lladró it is purely because of the beauty of the product and the happy feelings our sculpture translate.
