For several years, we have been working with “Chapiteaux des Îles”, a company that rents out and resells professional canopy tents. Their recently established branch “Pergolas des Îles”, dedicated to the outdoor sector, has inaugurated a new single-brand showroom of 600 square meters focused on the Giulio Barbieri’s pergolas and sun shade sails.
“The quality of Giulio Barbieri’s products and the brand’s excellent global reputation are the main features that attracted us in the first place”
says Lucie Lepinay, the co-owner of Chapiteaux des Îles – Pergolas des Îles, together with Eddie Meriot.
“When we visited the factory in Ferrara, we could see how serious and committed Mr Barbieri was to growing his company using his profuse Italian know-how. For these reasons we decided to open a single-brand showroom entirely dedicated to the products of this company.”
The opening ceremony saw the direct participation of Giulio Barbieri as guest of honour, accompanied by Marcella Tieghi, the sales manager for the French-speaking areas.
The island has a population of 851,000 people and an economy based mainly on tourism. As a result, many professionals of the hospitality sector attended the event and were able to not only see but also touch the new products that were skillfully displayed in the showroom.
The “Pergolas des Îles” is in fact the only open-air showroom on the island. The owners wanted to simulate a real environment, using the canopy tents, pergolas, and sun shade sails to create several welcoming spaces dedicated to relaxation and convivial atmosphere.
During Giulio and Marcella’s stay on the island, Eddie and Lucie accompanied them to Mairie de la Pleine de Palmistes, a small town located between two volcanic plateaus, where they visited a recent installation of 4 “Festival” 12×12 m professional canopy tents and 1 “Festival” 9×8 m tent used to cover a market area.
Réunion is frequently exposed to tropical cyclones that affect the island during the summer season, from December to March.
For the past thirty years, companies operating in the area, such as Chapiteaux des Îles, have been able to test the durability of our products when subjected to these extreme weather conditions.
“We have already experienced several cyclones and many of our marquees and tents from other brands suffered considerable damage. Only the professional aluminium canopy tents by Giulio Barbieri withstood the gusts of wind and remained intact, proving their unparalleled quality,” says Eddie Meriot from Pergolas des Îles.
“Up to now, Giulio Barbieri’s aluminium tents have also shown an excellent resistance to the salt in the environment. The structures installed by the sea 15 years ago are still in their original state and the only maintenance required is the simple cleaning of the structures.”
“Our outdoor and event ranges are closely related,” says Giulio Barbieri. “Designing professional tents for events that must be continuously assembled, disassembled, and transported from one place to another in the shortest possible time, taught us how to develop practical, durable, and reliable structures. This way of thinking is somewhat of a trademark for us and we also apply it to our outdoor range. The result is that the boundary between the two ranges is, in fact, very blurred. Several rental companies are starting to successfully use our pergolas to widen the choice of structures they offer to their customers, and this has been made possible thanks to the creation of products designed for their specific needs. Chapiteaux des Îles is a proof of our constant evolution, as it continues to show blind trust in our products and our assistance, despite the great distance that separates us. This, I think, also thanks to the wonderful human relationship that we have built over time, is a prerequisite for any fruitful business relationship.
