The choice of home decor in Korea has been rather limited, considering the country’s burgeoning population of fastidious shoppers.

They either had to choose from a handful of local home furnishing companies or go to Namdaemun Market to hunt down unofficially imported candle holders or teapots that meet their tastes.

Worse still, some put up with the exorbitantly overpriced foreign brands sold in department stores.

That is what drove a Korean importer to open Asia’s first Riviera Maison store near Dosan Park in southern Seoul.

Nico Tijsen, the Dutch brand’s creative director known as the “Martha Stewart of Holland,” was in Seoul last week to touch up the store’s display of furniture, textiles and tableware for its launching party.

“Before coming to Korea, I thought Korea would be more like China, but I was wrong,” Tijsen said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

“Korea is such a hip and trendy country. Koreans are sophisticated and educated; they are much more aware of what they want and like to enjoy themselves much more.”

Riviera Maison plans to open one or two more shops in Korea including one in a department store in Busan.

The company is preparing to open its second Asian store in Kazakhstan’s Almaty, and more in China’s Shanghai and Beijing, Tijsen said.

Riviera Maison started in 1948 as a flower shop in Amsterdam which later did flower arrangements for the Dutch royal palace. Henk Teunissen, the current chief executive who inherited the flower shop from his parents, expanded the business to home furnishing.

Tijsen joined Riviera Maison at the age of 21 in 1987 when the company had only eight employees. Its headquarters now has about 250 staff.

The company’s first furniture was sold in the Netherland’s Haarlem store in 1993 and its first total home concept store opened three years later in Amsterdam.

He met Lee Yu-rim, the owner of the Seoul store, at the Paris Maison & Objet, Europe’s largest interior design fair, who strongly felt the need for this kind of shop in Korea.

Prices of Riviera Maison items are not much higher than those of its Korean rivals, according to Lee. A wineglass from a major local brand, for instance, costs around 9,000 won, and Riviera’s is priced at 13,000 won.

Tijsen is a celebrity in his home country. He gives advice on Christmas table settings or how to redecorate homes on television.

“People tend to think they have to change the entire house and buy new furniture to give it a new feel. But often, all you have to do is change your cushion covers, duvet covers or lamp shades. It’s like changing clothes,” said the florist-turned-creative director who started decorating his room when he was six years old.

Tijsen designs between 400 and 600 products each season as the company unveils a whole new collection twice a year.

He gets most of his inspiration while traveling. His latest collections were inspired by and named after a Swiss ski resort named Klosters, a beach in Florida or Saint Petersburg.

In Korea, he was most inspired by a combination of fabric with leather and ribbon he saw at a department store.

In Istanbul, it was the long line of buttons on the shirt of a woman he shared a restaurant table with. He applied the buttons in his new collection of cushions.

“First impressions are always very important and they last forever. I tell my staff to make sure everything looks nice and all our products are wrapped perfectly because there is never a second chance for a first impression,” said Tijsen, who was wearing leather boots with skulls on the sides when he first met Lee.

Riviera Maison has about 700 selling points worldwide including 400 in Europe. It has 25 directly-run stores in Europe.

By Kim So-hyun  (sophie@heraldcorp.com)