Ask yourself, do you like it when there is some kind of slurred rag hanging on the window of your apartment, proudly called a curtain, or, more than your aspirations, and doesn’t cover anything in the naked window opening, delighting your neighbors with interesting views every day?
Muhammad Foruzandeh, chief executive officer of Casafina in Dubai recently, however, his store has already earned fame for a paradise for those who care about the graceful decor of their own home, and especially its windows, which, if you draw a parallel with human eyes, in fact, There is a "soul mirror" of each apartment or villa.
What does the Casafina showroom offer to residents and guests of Dubai today? I asked Muhammad himself.
Please tell me how long have you been involved in the textile business?
Everything is organic. Textiles are a family business that began over 95 years ago in Iran. Six years ago, we decided to move to Dubai to expand the company, to get more access to its multilayer international population and more companies that would be interested and profitable to cooperate with us. Knowing the reputation of Dubai as the largest regional re-export center, we also understood that working in this market would give us the opportunity to send our products to various parts of the world.
Fortunately, in the six years that we are represented here, we have managed to become distributors of the main manufacturers of the highest quality fabrics in the world - from the USA to European countries. But I believe that the main advantage of our company is such a huge selection of fabrics that every person, both a professional designer and an ordinary buyer, will be able to find a solution in Casafina that meets any budget - from 10 to 10 thousand dirhams. You will not find such diversity and choices anywhere else, since companies working with affluent clients often do not pay attention to the middle class or budget options, and vice versa, those who are aimed at people with low demands do not supply expensive and elite types of textiles.
You work with clients from around the world. How different are their requests?
If you omit the budget component, then I will note that representatives of different nationalities place accents in their homes in different ways. For example, it is very important for Europeans to create an expensive and beautiful bedroom, while immigrants from the Middle East countries most importantly design a living room, and they are ready to spend more significant amounts from their budget on curtains and upholstery. Given such requests, we send our specialist to an apartment or villa, he takes measurements and photographs there, on the basis of which we offer a ready-made solution, first in computer graphics and samples, then, if the client likes, in a real embodiment. Departure of our employee at home is a free service. For everything else, including sewing curtains in a certain style, we charge a certain fee. The most important thing our designer helps a person with is advice on choosing fabrics. After all, he owns information about more than 75 thousand textile options available to Casafina, their prices and textures, how they behave in everyday life and so on. An ordinary person who first came to us is immediately lost, and it is sometimes difficult for him to make a choice.
What other services do you offer to end customers, for example, those who have just moved to Dubai?
For owners of new apartments, we are ready to develop a curtain design and select the appropriate upholstery for furniture, and even make an order at one of the Iranian factories for the manufacture of a carpet that would be in harmony in the pattern with the ornament of curtains or sofas. Simply put, provide all textile solutions from A to Z. For those who already have a finished interior that he likes in general, but who wants to change the shade of the curtains or some details, we offer a variety of solutions, each of which is individually from customer to customer. The most important thing is not to spend as much money as possible on decorating the room, but to choose a style in which all the elements will be coordinated with each other. Sometimes you don’t need to change the sofa, just change the shade and quality of the curtains, and the old boring furniture will look like new. Moreover, we can offer customers the design of their existing curtains, adding some small element that can completely change the look.
Please tell me, are there any fashion trends in the design of windows in the rooms? For example, what color of curtains would you call the most fashionable in the current spring-winter season?
I think that fashion trends, of course, exist, otherwise why would designers of the world's leading textile industries offer us more and more new fabrics and options for combining them with each other. This spring and summer, I would call the most relevant shade of the curtains blue, especially dark blue. It blends very well with white and light cream walls, most of which are in the emirate’s houses, as well as with beige and brown furniture.
Do you work with interior designers? If so, in which large and interesting projects was your textile used?
Of course we work. Representing fabrics from more than 270 global brands, we cannot focus only on the final consumer. Recently, we participated in updating the upholstery of furniture and curtains at one of Dubai’s largest hotels, Atlantis. This is a major project, which is carried out in several phases. During the first Casafina will refresh over 400 rooms in this hotel, then we will work on the following.
How long does it usually take to design windows, say, in a two-bedroom apartment?
On average, from one to two to three weeks, depending on the fabrics chosen by the customer, since at the time of ordering they may not be in Dubai and it takes time to deliver them from Europe or the United States, and the complexity of execution. In addition, we can supply wallpapers suitable for this room.
What was your largest and most complex order?
It was one of the palaces in Bahrain. Firstly, it is far from the UAE, and our specialists had to fly there repeatedly. Secondly, there were rather complicated windows, sometimes at different levels, so we had to find a solution in the manufacture of curtains that would hide all the flaws of the architecture and emphasize the dignity of all rooms and halls. How often do you update collections at Casafina? Monthly, since we need to demonstrate the products of all 270 companies from which we purchase textiles in our salon during the year.
Do you have many buyers from Russia and the CIS countries?
Before the crisis, there were many, now less. We even supplied ready-made solutions abroad - to Kazakhstan, Russia, and other countries. We hope that the number of Russian buyers will increase again over time.
Thanks for the conversation, Muhammad. Hope to see you again.
