XINBANG TOWN, China—The creators of the Ausen IDC designer showroom in Xinbang has announced the 2012 opening of a new project in downtown Shanghai right off the Bund and right next to the luxurious Waldorf Astoria Hotel which opened this past summer. 

While the IDC project contains 237,000 square feet on four floors in Building A and 19.500 square feet in Building B, the new showroom project on the Bund will offer smaller spaces to couture lines of Western furniture and fabrics by brand. 

“Customers who didn’t buy into the Ausen IDC often said they wanted to be in the Bund area so now they have a location that meets their needs with our new location,” said Hunter Zhang, owner and CEO of AUSEN Real Estate Development (Shanghai) CO., Ltd., developer of both projects. Zhang is extremely energetic and his enthusiasm is contagious about the IDC projects. He said that he has overseen every detail of its design and construction.  Ausen is the name of his original company founded in Australia. Hunter Zhang

The company brochure states that “Shanghai, already a world leader in fashion, art and architecture, and China’s chicest city, is ready to take a lead position in the world of interior design. The residential interior design industry in China is relatively young, literally and figuratively, and IDC intends to play a large role in helping that industry mature and develop, by educating consumers about the value and need for professional help in designing their increasingly large and western style homes.”

There are many luxurious home in the Xinbang area which need to be furnished, said William Grenewald, the veteran designer showroom consultant retained to help with the leasing. The location of IDC is adjacent to the Hukun Expressway which connects Shanghai to Hangzhou and less than 30 minutes to the Honqiao Airport

Zhang has brought class to the Chinese furniture trade with the opening of Ausen IDC last July, the first high end furniture showroom to the trade in China and with the new project on the Bund, he is offering Western suppliers of furniture and fabric and accessories a tasty package to get one’s feet wet in the burgeoning China market for high end furnishings. Over half the space is leased at the Ausen Design Center with a new 72 room Golden Tulip hotel rising on the same property to accommodate designers and their clients. The building interior finishes are of a very high quality and represents a new standard for future design centers in China. There are many amenities incorporated for the buyer including coffee bars, meeting rooms and a designers’ club on the fourth floor which can be used as the designer’s office away from home, Grenewald said. William Grenewald

Both projects represents Zhang’s personal vision to create a design center based on the US model for the rapidly developing luxury home furnishings market in China which would showcase Western brands exclusively, defined as Europe, UK, and North America. The Ausen IDC business plan calls for development of trade only sales through professional interior designers, while offering affluent consumers the ability to shop for themselves with a dual pricing system similar to the European model.  There are several turn-key solutions which make it extremely easy for medium sized and smaller companies to create a foothold in the exploding Chinese market without a large investment or employees and superstructure, Grenewald reasoned.

Ausen IDC is placed logistically in the fastest growing area of Shanghai, which is also the hub of 50 million people, Zhang said. “Many companies in the IDC have never been distributed in China before,” Grenewald said. There are now 70 brands in the design center and they read like a who’s who of European and American furniture design. These brands include Hugo Boss, JAB, Busatto, Benedetti, Capponi, Bisazza, Rouchon, Rolf Benz and  bert plantagie just to name a few.JAB Showroom PicturesAusen's Shanghai Bund Location

The JAB showroom is managed by Li Zheng, chief representative for this venerable German brand. JAB has been operating in China for about six years and has put some meaningful sales figures on the board to the tune of $6 million annually but Zheng said JAB is just scratching the surface in China. “The best is yet to come,” the young Zheng told F&FI. He uses the space as a working showroom with his own offices in the background.      F&FI