Finnish homewares specialty retailer Marimekko is to open new flagship stores in Bangkok and Singapore.

The move marks a continuation of a concerted push into the Asia-Pacific region. Over the last three years Marimekko has expanded into China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.

In the first quarter of this calendar year the brand will open company-owned stores in Singapore’s new Capitol Piazza mall and in CentralWorld, Bangkok, which attracts as many as 150,000 shoppers per day.

In Singapore, Marimekko already has a shop-in-shop which opened last November 2014 inside the Tangs department store on Orchard Rd.

The company says it will open more stores in Asia over the next few years.

“The opportunities afforded by the growing consumer markets of Asia play an important role in Marimekko’s internationalisation,” said president and CEO Mika Ihamuotila.

“In our expansion in the international marketplace, we have focused first and foremost on regions with high growth potential. The Asia-Pacific region is our second-largest market area, and we already have a fairly strong foothold in East Asia. We are now aiming for two new markets in Southeast Asia.

“Singapore is a modern metropolis and very attractive to us, as it is considered one of the region’s top shopping destinations for tourists. As an aviation gateway it also serves as an access point to many Asian countries and the city receives an enormous number of travellers,” he said.

“The capital city of Thailand, Bangkok, is in an interesting stage of development from the retail viewpoint. A number of high-class malls have been opened in the city recently, and it is rising to be a noteworthy rival to Singapore and Hong Kong.”

Half of the new Marimekko stores opened in 2014 were in the Asia-Pacific region: two in Hong Kong, one in Chengdu in mainland China, two in Seoul in South Korea and two in Japan. In Australia, Marimekko opened a company-owned store in Melbourne. One shop-in-shop was opened in New Zealand.