MILAN – Seasoned luxury executive Daniel Lalonde, who recently exited his role as Flos B&B Italia Group’s chief executive officer, has moved on to become CEO at Vita.
Vita is part of Finland’s Fiskars Group, and houses lifestyle, home and design brands including Royal Copenhagen, Georg Jensen, Iittala, Wedgwood, Waterford, Arabia, Hackman, Rogaska, Royal Albert, Royal Doulton and Rorstrand.
“My focus is to create a leadership position for these brands in the home accessories business,” Lalonde told WWD in a call Tuesday. In this Copenhagen, Denmark-based position, Lalonde said he will also focus on enhancing the storytelling of each brand. For example, fine china and porcelain specialists like Wedgwood and Royal Copenhagen are steeped in history.
“One of the things that attracted me so much to Vita were these strong heritage brands, which came with incredible stories. All of them have incredible foundations, founders, stories along the way. I saw the potential in building these brands to become very much more known, more desirable as well. And in a sense, you know, using the heritage to transform them into something modern,” he said, adding that Royal Copenhagen turns 250 this year.
Lalonde also said that he will remain on the board of directors of both Flos B&B Italia Group and beauty conglomerate Puig.
Fiskars Group, which is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki, is the global home of design-driven brands for indoor and outdoor living. In 2024, Fiskars Group posted global net sales of 1.2 billion euros and counted 7,000 people. In 2024, it divided its company into two divisions: Fiskars, which consists of the gardening and outdoor categories, as well as the scissors and cooking categories, while Vita which reported net sales of 605 million euros in 2024. Danish lifestyle brand Georg Jenson, one of its most recent acquisitions, also makes watches and jewelry, in addition to tableware and home decor.
Before joining what was then known as Design Holding in 2021, Lalonde was chief executive officer at SMCP, the group behind accessible fashion labels Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and Fursac. He has also been international president of Ralph Lauren International and held various positions at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton including president and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton North America. He began his career at Nespresso.
“Daniel is a perfect fit to lead Vita, considering his extensive experience from CEO roles in world-class luxury and consumer brands, both in Europe and the United States. During the recent years and in line with our strategy, Vita has gone through a genuine transformation. We have carefully built foundations, and I am convinced that Daniel will bring visionary leadership to Vita to tap into long-term,” said Fiskars Group’s CEO and president Nathalie Ahlström.
During his tenure at Flos B&B Italia Group, Lalonde focused on shaping the firm as the “LVMH of home” and led the company through a new era of expansion and rebranding.
Lalonde was key in developing a unique strategy that brought the group’s vanguard brands B&B Italia, Flos, Louis Poulsen, Maxalto, Arclinea and Azucena under one roof. This culminated in the opening of a 25,000-square-foot space on New York City’s 135 Madison Avenue last year. At the time, he told WWD the group was on track to meet its near term goal of 1 billion euros in sales.
In January, it was announced that former Flos CEO Piero Gandini was appointed its executive chairman of the group, while Lalonde was to remain a member its board of directors of the group to support the future development of the business.
