On 14th March 2014, Ferrara celebrated the grand opening of their new showroom at Vertex along Ubi Avenue 3 with a simple yet heart-warming ceremony. Many of their close working principals, developers, architects, interior designers, builders and friends turned up to grace the occasion.
Every guest was greeted at the door and led on a personal guided tour through the showroom. It consisted of two floors and on the first, Ferrara showcased their many products.
The underlying design concepts of the place were simple - de-clutter, contrast and feel. Every product was spaced out evenly and mounted on dark grey panels which starkly contrasted and brought out the beautiful lines and curves. Such a layout allowed guests to touch the products and experience the quality of the finishing. By cleverly sectioning each area by the respective brands, visitors could view each separately and pick out the design differences like an expert, form their own opinions and preferences thus making the entire experience highly personable.
Walking up and unto the second floor brought an entirely different experience. Suddenly, from a neat product layout, visitors walked up and into – home. The first feeling anyone gets after stepping up was usually one of surprising warmth as it consists of a softly furnished living room, a dining area three bathrooms and even a kitchenette.
Each area holds even more little surprises. The sofa could, by a single-handed operation, be converted into a bed within a matter of eight heartbeats. A low rectangle coffee table could be raised in height with flaps that opened out transforming it into a full height round dining table.
A rectangle dinner table for eight in booth style seating could also be extended in length for more surface area. Meanwhile, the master bathroom area showcased a freestanding bathtub which could be converted easily into a day bed or lounge seating which integrated seamlessly into the living area. All in all, visitors to the Ferrara showroom could experience the showy home furnishing pieces just as they would when installed in their own homes.
After the wonderful tour, guests were invited to gather at a tent put up just outside the showroom. The evening’s programme was kicked off by a solo dance performance inspired by water and flow put up by Stacie – a third year Diploma in Performing Arts student at the La-Salle College of the Arts. An inspiring start which led on to the welcome address by director Jenny Tay, followed by another surprise during the ribbon cutting ceremony as the organizers for the event called upon an even more surprised Ferrara Team to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony.
“Our team members are the life and blood of Ferrara without which we will not be able to even get the most basic tasks completed, hence they are our true VIP - Very Important People”.
With the serious business set aside, guests were invited to play a game specially adapted, called “The Ferrara Tender Game” and the rules were simple. Each player had a hand of nine cards and could trade between one to three cards with any other player until he or she collected a total of 9 cards from the same brand.
It was a highly charged game and multiple ‘trades’ could all happen at the same time. Any player who collected all nine cards had to cry out “Tender successful” and grab a special card placed on the table called 'Letter of Intent”.
In perfect mimic to the industry project tender process, whosoever was the holder of a Letter of Intent was presented with the “Letter of Award” signifying that they have won the bid to supply into the development. Guests were sporting and everyone had superb fun.
The exciting evening slowly drew to an end after the game segment which broke the ice and guests could comfortably mingle with one another.
