THE NOVELTY OF CULTURAL- ORIENTED DESIGN: NEW OPPORTUONITIES FOR SMEs IN THE EGYPTIAN FURNITURE INDUSTRY

Abstract

In the past few decades, in the furniture industry, the value of traditional culture has been underestimated in many countries under the process of western-centric modernisation. The process of the culture grounded competitive advantages of furniture& furnishing firms has not yet identified and still undeveloped theoretically and practically. Using the local identity (culture) to add an emotional and symbolic value to the furniture and creating marketing differentiation advantage is not yet fully recognised by academics and practitioners. The research is an in-depth study to discuss how this traditional cultural capital can be incorporated into modern furniture design with a view of promoting a modern lifestyle with a local identity. Also, whether the innovative cultural design with more abstract elements of traditional culture perceptions is more successful in satisfying users’ perceptual needs, and if their purchasing behaviour tends to be affected prominently in this way. To address these questions a qualitative research and case analysis were used for analysing successful furniture companies` value propositions which are created on emotional and symbolic cultural values and lead to differentiation advantages, Moreover, the study submitted quantitative research to verify the impact of culturally innovative design on costumers’ perceptions by analysing their purchase intention and attitudes towards furniture. The results showed that in a globalised economy, the cultural and creative industry is an emerging industry with creativity as its core. Currently, in Egypt, the design development of cultural creative furniture is varied, but some cultural creative products are reduced to a transfer of patterns or are limited to traditional crafts. Other examples use a design strategy to produce creative furniture that can impart cultural heritage and present culturally distinctive aesthetics that are practical in daily life, which gives their brands a differentiation competitive advantage.