LG is gearing up to target the UK domestic market with its Art Cool range of 'designer' air conditioning units. Looking specifically at the high end interior and residential market, the company intends to announce a network of domestic dealers this Spring.
The firm said 'LG is in detailed discussions with several companies firms, some new to the air conditioning industry but well versed in dealing with the more lucrative parts of the domestic market'.

LG is insisting on a business model from potential Art Cool dealers which includes showrooms, planning, system design, technical and support services and staff trained in dealing with big-spending consumers.

'We believe that there is an absolutely enormous market of consumers who wants an Art Cool ac system in their homes or their home-offices. We also believe, from market research, that the price of an installed Art Cool system is secondary to the quality of the installation and the product - in other words - better margins for everyone in the supply chain,' said LG's Tony Gittings.

Gittings admitted dealing with consumers directly would bring its own challenges. 'Just imagine a consumer orders an air con system to be installed and then finds a thumb-print on light coloured wallpaper or a boot mark on a cream carpet,' he said.

'We believe the consumer wants to know nothing about the technical aspects of installation - they just want it to work when they want it - and they want it to look nice on the wall. Simple- but achieving simplicity takes a lot of time and planning. For this reason we have waited until this year to expand Art Cool into a new arena'.

The ArtCool range's customers are interior design firms, boutique hotels, fashions houses, restaurants and homes in expensive and exclusive areas of London and the home counties.

The most recent introduction to Art Cool is the Gallery series. This allows the end-user to change the front panel of the air conditioning unit as a picture frame to hold any image wanted.

All the Art Cool units come with an infrared remote control unit that allows the end-user to control the following functions: Air circulation/Fan operation; Room temperature checking; Sleep mode operation; Temperature setting; Operation mode selection; Single event 24 hour timer function.