Michael Burke, President and CEO of Italian fashion house Fendi, has always maintained that luxury should not be affordable.

"It cannot be, it shouldn't be for everybody," he insists. "The way the products are made, the quality and the works... luxury is not for instantaneous gratification. One should aspire for it."

There has recently been far too much froth in an overcrowded marketplace, adds the executive, "too much fast luxury."

"That's why we need a recession so there is equilibrium and so we can return to the real values of luxury," he says.

To drive that parity, Burke is looking Middle Eastwards, to a market he says has shown the highest growth rate in the world for his company.

"The Middle East can bring about a balance to the luxury market," he says. "People from this region have historically been among our biggest patrons and we want to bring the experience closer to them."

Fendi's Middle East flagship opened last week at The Dubai Mall. Spread over 375 square metres, the boutique, the brand's 11th in the region, features the latest ready-to-wear lines for both men and women, furs, leather goods and accessories.

Designed by internationally acclaimed architect Peter Marino, the store's concept, with its indeterminate walls and baroque-inspired interiors was created to embody the brand, says Burke, and not "as a temple to our ego".

"That is so last century," he says. "We want to tell the Fendi story and the values it represents."

Founded in Rome in 1925 by young couple Edoardo and Adele Fendi, the luxury Italian fashion house began as a handbag and fur shop and immediately became popular with Rome's bourgeois. Within five years, as the fur line expanded, the brand began to establish its name outside the Italian capital.

The founders' daughters soon joined the company, bringing their own designs to the brand. But it was in 1965, after Fendi's collaboration with eccentric designer Karl Lagerfeld – often referred to as the world's most famous designer – that the brand truly took off internationally.

Under the German-born designer and artist's guidance, the distinctive double "F" was born. Lagerfeld, also the Creative Director for French fashion house Chanel and head of his own eponymous label, has been credited with changing the way the house used fur, ensuring its place in high fashion.

While Silvia Venturini, a third-generation Fendi, shares creative direction roles with Lagerfeld, various members of the Fendi family are still involved with other aspects of the brand, now owned by LVMH or Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's biggest luxury goods firm.

LVMH, which took over Fendi in 2001, is helmed by France's richest man Bernard Arnault, and reported €17 billion (Dh102bn) revenue last year. Fendi today operates more than 160 boutiques in 25 countries.

"Fendi is unique because we have two very unique designers who bring in an interesting combination to the brand and are essential to its success," says Burke, who adds that there has been no tension between the creative and business heads with the onslaught of the economic crisis.

Major design houses, especially those owned by designer families, have recently been reported to war with the executive heads they have hired over cost-cutting measures amid the crisis.

"The values we are expressing and the message we are communicating is very clear to all parties involved," he says. "There is no conflict and there cannot be any conflict. We are making a fashion statement, not a statutory statement."

But the LVHM backing must also help?

"Definitely. That is why we continue to invest during difficult times. And we continue to invest in our studios and designers."

In 1997, Silvia Fendi designed the "baguette bag", inspired by the French bread, and started the "it bag" phenomena among women. The Fendi baguette bag is today still one of the company's most successful lines.

Burke however says he wants the latest store "to tell the true story, the whole story".

"We also have a long tradition of fur and have specialised technology and years and of experience to create the most glamourous and the most luxurious of furs," he says.

France-born Burke, who has been in the luxury business for more than 20 years, first worked with Arnault in the real estate field. Later, when the businessman entered the luxury goods business, he was drafted to head the Christian Dior US operation, and then later the Louis Vuitton brand's American operations before his appointment to Fendi in 2004.

"When I joined, the company was not in need of a name, or a well known designer," says Burke adding he has successful thread the line between management and the need for creativity.

"It's a balancing act and one that is achieved by promoting a strong unified vision."

Fur, says Burke, will continue to be an important part and tradition of Fendi.

"Man has been dressed in fur for thousands of years and will continue to do so. It's one of the most ecologically correct garment in the world," he says. "It is 100 per cent recyclable and can last for up to 50 years.

"There is a whole ecology and huge communities that have been sustained and maintained because of the fur business," he adds. "Cotton, for instance, uses the most fertiliser and pesticides and is extremely damaging to the environment while our pelts are completely natural."

Both Fendi Casa, the home interiors line, and the brand's eyewear line are licensed to other manufacturers.

"Highly specialised lines should be licensed out to maintain quality and the know-how," says Burke. "As long as you apply the same rigorous standards that are the hallmark of your brand, there's no issue."


Timeline

1925 Edoardo and Adele Fendi open a store in Rome

1965 Fendi begins collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld

1966 Fendi presents its first couture collection.

2001 LVMH takes over Fendi

2009 Fendi's flagship and 11th Middle East store opens

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