Connect with huge architecture firms and gain new business through Architizer’s community marketplace for building-products. Click here for more information.
One of Europe’s most well-known tile and bathroom product manufacturers, Roca, is expanding in the United States, meaning the luxury and style enjoyed in so many homes, commercial spaces and hotels across the Atlantic will now have more exposure in American architecture. A 100-year-old Spanish company that’s had great global success, Roca is now taking major steps to get its products more well known around the U.S.
For a century, the company has relied on close relationships with international architects and various clients to garner commissions abroad. Now it is branding itself to fit the U.S. design market, which is not an easy undertaking considering the widespread loyalty to other American brands, some of which are household names.
Roca products featured in the 2014 refurbishment of Paris’ Eiffel Tower; via Roca
“At Roca, we believe having a working relationship with the architectural community provides an organic path for clients to better experience our products,” Sergio Diaz, Roca’s architectural sales associate for the Northeastern U.S. said. “But here, we are pretty much starting out. People don’t know Roca even though we are everywhere in over 170 countries. Sometimes it’s hard to prove that, so we’re working to introduce our products to firms throughout the country and getting to know them better.”
As Diaz and his team are busy infiltrating the market, they’re securing in-person meetings with potential new clients, attending local industry events and utilizing online platforms like Architizer to make this massive awareness campaign run as smoothly as possible. Educating customers, as well as future partners, is a full-time affair. Because Roca’s vast line of fixtures, toilets, tubs, lighting and signature tile collections are practically synonymous with bathrooms everywhere but the United States, the team is relying on their broad history and word of mouth to get noticed.
Through platforms like Architizer, Diaz says, they’re looking for the right projects to zero in on that might be the perfect fit for their high-end products. “As a specification tool online, Architizer acts as a solution to the challenge of approaching architects and getting them to understand Roca and our products,” he said.
Roca Cliff Stone Tiles; via Roca
For a company that’s trying to break through an already-dense industry, something as personal and fast as Architizer’s marketplace — which matches actively specifying architects with quality building-product manufacturers — could help them reach more potential clients and make more connections across the country than any other tool.
Roca’s Armani concept; via Armani / Roca
Another way Roca aims to introduce itself is by highlighting its already standout portfolio of project collaborations around the world. From its recent design venture with Armani to its Zaha Hadid–designed gallery in London and its Beijing location by MAD Architects, Roca wants its products and showrooms to speak for themselves — especially because they’re presented with such high-style.
Roca’s exclusive Armani concept, which features elegant bathroom products that include minimalist materials and textures, has been hugely successful in the Middle East and is now being offered for luxury residential projects in the Northeastern U.S.
Roca’s worldwide metropolitan galleries — as noted above — are vital to creating community and conversation around their products in major cities. The company has worked with renowned architects like Rafael Moneo and Carlos Ferrater of the Office of Architecture in Barcelona (OAB) on these innovative spaces. Though there isn’t one yet in the U.S., Roca trusts its global fame will back up its credibility.
While the architecture of Roca is spectacular in and of itself, it’s the products inside these showrooms that showcase the company’s advanced design and manufacturing processes. For example, their smart toilet technology is something that Diaz and his team have been looking to more seriously sell in the American market, including their In-Wash Inspira products. Even though their tile series is one of the most short-listed Roca items on Architizer, Diaz believes all of the company’s bathroom offerings — from faucets to shower trays and bidets — can enhance and bring an aura of sophistication to any space when specified together.
Roca’s vitreous smart toilet featuring In-Wash technology; via Roca
“We’re really marketing to capture the minds of designers across the country by launching new products in the USA,” Diaz said. “As we grow rapidly, we’re committed to becoming extremely active and being a go-to bathroom solution provider in the industry.”
Top image: Roca Gallery in London by Zaha Hadid Architects
Gain leads from major firms such as AECOM, HOK and OMA through Architizer’s community marketplace for building-products. Click here to sign up now.