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From Home Furnishing Business
Bellini Modern Living Provides Upholstery for Quick Ship Program
June 20,
2024 by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Industry 
Bellini Modern Living, distributor of modern Italian furniture, is driving sales for Norfolk, Virginia-based Decorum Furniture through a custom, domestic upholstery program that offers more than 70 European performance fabrics and delivery in just eight weeks.
Shawn Griffey, Decorum Furniture's co-owner, stocks his floor with Bellini Modern Living’s high-end and competitively priced furniture in multiple categories to bring unique European styles to Norfolk, Virginia, that are not seen elsewhere. As a member of the prestigious Contemporary Design Group (CDG) buying group with years of experience importing containers, he appreciates Bellini Modern Living’s arsenal of Made in Italy product, in-stock and ready for immediate shipment from the company’s Toronto-based warehouse facility.
“You always want to work with vendors that carry Italian-made products that you can get quickly,” Griffey said. “That point was driven home in the upholstery category during Covid when I found I could get a very consistent flow of goods from Italy with a lot more regularity than I could get product from domestic manufacturers in the U.S. That’s when Bellini Modern Living launched its custom upholstery line made in Canada.”
With five groups on the floor, the ability to customize high-end affordable pieces makes a world of difference for Decorum Furniture and its customers. In addition to offering exceptional couture-level tailoring “that you just don’t see anymore” at affordable price points, Griffey said Bellini’s special-order line-up is short, sweet and backed up by great fabric selection.
“It even comes with a chic little cart to keep the fabrics organized. Customers have responded really well, because it’s so easy and the exceptional tailoring details show beautifully.”
At a time when many independent retailers are struggling to attract shoppers, Decorum Furniture recently featured Bellini’s kidney-shaped Fiona sofa covered in teal velvet on a billboard 45 minutes away close to a neighborhood on the peninsula known for $2 million homes.
Featuring the tagline ‘Discover the Difference,’ the billboard has drawn enough new customers to the store specifically to purchase Fiona that Griffey said he wishes he had more floor space to develop the line.
Hossein Azimi, CEO of Bellini Modern Living, said, “Local retailers like Decorum Furniture continue to see growing interest in the special-order custom upholstery program because customers want to be more involved in the design process. We offer a streamlined way to customize contemporary pieces with European fabrics, colors and textures created by our own talented design team.”