MAM
‘Beats of Marapani’ pays tribute to India’s furniture artists
Mumbai: With Beats of Marapani, InnoDesigns pays homage to India’s furniture artists with a groovy music track that seamlessly blends carpentry sounds with Onam melodies.
A passion for home furnishings and technology inspired InnoDesigns, and it translates creative ideas into unconventional designs. Every piece that propels them forward in their design journey is created in collaboration with Indian furniture artisans.
InnoDesigns COO and strategy head Neetii said, “As a brand we believe furniture manufacturers are the lifeline of India’s furniture industry, and as a brand it’s an honour for us to celebrate their craftsmanship and contribution.”
InnoDesigns marketing and sales head Himanshu said on the track, “It was time to bring back the focus on our local furniture manufacturers. And what better occasion than Onam to start this conversation in Kerala. This tribute is also about prepping up the consumer in Kochi and Calicut for Onam as we bring in some unbelievable offers for them.”
LeapX’s Henry Moirang said on this, “For us the brief was clear. Bring alive the brand’s belief that the furniture manufacturer is the protagonist here. So we weaved his craftsmanship and the festival of Onam to make a call-to-action that people of Kerala find relevant and worth advancing. Thanks to Himanshu and his team for making us a part of this journey.”
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
