It is often said that a person’s workspace provides a good indication of their personality. The office of Joanna Gunn, vice-president of creative, marketing and communications at Hong Kong-based luxury retailer Lane Crawford, is bright, modern and uncluttered - modern without being self-consciously so.
This is indeed how Gunn, who joined the company seven years ago from Joyce, a Hong Kong boutique with a history of introducing big-name designers to the city, projects herself. By extension, describing fashion as having been part of my DNA from a very early age, Gunn is a reflection of the new Lane Crawford: a store with a 158-year history which, having overhauled its classic, mature image to become an authoritative voice on contemporary design, is now seeking to satisfy China’s growing demand for innovative luxury.
The company’s recent ‘Transitions’ campaign, which used six Chinese celebrities to showcase a selection of designs available at its stores, was designed to symbolise this repositioning, and in particular to make the brand’s presence and ethos known in China. Gunn describes the primary target audience as insiders, culture creators, and modernists.
If we talk to them, everyone else will follow, she says optimistically.
But she acknowledges that success in the mainland will not come overnight. The store’s opening in Beijing in October follows the closure of premises in Shanghai, Harbin and Hangzhou some years ago due to underwhelming sales.
Beijing is a difficult market, she says. We are still finding our feet, finding out who is there and what they aspire to.
Nonetheless, Gunn claims that the market offers broader scope for experimentation than Hong Kong, dismissing the notion that high-end Chinese consumers merely crave ostentatious logos.
Beijing customers are much more advanced. They are not afraid to be unique. We haven’t dumbed-down for our new customers. We wanted to excite them and give them a different point of view with brands not at the forefront.
She adds that the ‘Transitions’ push was also intended to encourage people to create their own individual style, in contrast to designer monobrand stores that she says prescribe rather than empower. In contrast to its previous China ventures, where the brand operated as a franchise and suffered as a result of an unclear proposition - a mid-range store too expensive for everyday consumers and not luxurious enough to appeal to a high-end audience .
Instead, explains Gun, the new Beijing venue will have a clear point of difference as a specialist department store. Indeed, located some distance from the city’s fashionable shopping district, the store is counting on building a name for itself as a ‘destination’ for discerning shoppers.
Gunn describes the strategy as a continuation of that in Hong Kong, which saw Lane Crawford relocate its flagship store from a convenient location in the heart of the city to the third floor of a mall in the International Financial Centre (IFC), somewhat remote by Hong Kong standards.
People were dubious but it needed to happen to get the whole platform rolling. We have now taken the IFC model to Beijing.
Gunn says that the brand’s approach to marketing in China will also be similar to Hong Kong, incorporating experiential events, collection launches by designers, and artistic campaigns developed by boutique agencies such as London-based Partner & Partner and Chandelier.
We like small agencies because we like to build close relations and understanding. In the fashion world you need to work with like-minded people to make sure you are both on the same page. We like to give agencies a lot of freedom. The better they get to know you, the more scope they can give you back.
An agency source describes Gunn as an open-minded, well-rounded intellectual, dedicated to her work.
Having arrived in Hong Kong from the UK 11 years ago, Gunn says the role she now finds herself in allows her to channel her creative energy in a way that would have proved difficult as a fashion designer, an occupation she once aspired to.
China is what Hong Kong was 20 years ago. Things are becoming more dynamic. Much of China is undiscovered, unknown… and exciting.
Joanna Gunn’s CV
2007 Vice-president, creative marketing and communications, Lane Crawford
2006 Marketing and creative director, Lane Crawford
2001 Visual and creative presentation manager, Lane Crawford
1997 Visual manager, Joyce boutique
