Talk to us about the process of designing contemporary furniture for the Middle Eastern market.
Furniture is a tremendous consumer segment but surprisingly it has not evolved like fashion or beauty have in decades. Furniture retailers in the UAE are usually international brands that manufacture their products in country A, ship it to country B for warehousing and then dispatch the goods to country C (in another warehouse) and then sell it to customers in specific specs and colours.
I found it shocking that for me to get a couch I was paying for it to be transported around the world, for a fancy store, salespeople and so on rather than the actual couch itself.
The CO2 footprint of bringing these items to market through this exhaustive journey is unacceptable given the current state of the planet. I think this is really what makes Klekktic different.
How have you sought to differentiate yourself from other furniture firms? Is specially customised furniture the future?
The inspiration behind Klekktic came from my own experience moving but also from all of my friends and brother in law who were during that time period also looking to move and build a home that had a slightly more elevated interior aesthetic that was a step up from the common big box furniture retailers.
This all came together to inspire me to explore the local furniture manufacturing segment and really work out how we can bring well made, special pieces that are easy to customise at an accessible price point.
We love giving people a blank canvas that they can customise to make a piece that has a lot of personality which they can really fall in love with. We love simplicity and focus a lot on materials and fabrics. Most of our fabrics can be cleaned with soap and water which is super practical especially for our customers who are obsessed with white!
We thought it would be really hard to customise a sofa without seeing it so we try to have realistic visualisations on our website (we hope to improve this) and we also send out free fabric swatches so that customers can visualise the fabric within their homes. We find that our customers love both of these things even if they aren’t designers or used to picking such things for their spaces.
Covid-19 has upended global supply chains. How have you sought to navigate the supply chain crisis, build resilience and increase sustainability?
Luckily, due to our local manufacturing base and our direct to consumer model we have not been disrupted to a significant extent. Our raw materials have not been affected and fortunately, we work with small batch fabric mills as such they have been able to fulfil our demand for fabrics in a very efficient manner.
How is Klekktic’s production model different from other furniture manufacturers?
First of all, we have a very specific product offering which we do not veer from. We do not make bespoke pieces or design items from scratch but rather apply customisation options to our own designs.
We look to have a very curated fabric list which customers can pick from. Some of these fabrics are highly technical and performance fabrics that are water repellant and easy to clean.
We find this to be quite a distinguishing factor between us and other bespoke companies. We work hard to source these fabrics and in most cases, they belong to us exclusively either in the Middle East or in general.
Lastly, we strive to offer the most value for money. Given the premium quality of our materials we believe that our pricing is extremely competitive and accessible compared to other parties in the market.
Our best-selling couch – the Damien – is made from top quality memory foam and hypoallergenic fibre blend that we have created here in the UAE just for Klekktic as a proprietary filling. We made this in a mattress factory that actually supplies the world with mattresses for some of the most popular brands.
It was a big surprise to us that this mattress factory even existed here and we were impressed by the top of the line technology they have access to. It’s these kinds of details and focus on the durability of products that really gives us an edge.
Have you always wanted to be an entrepreneur?
Yes; ever since I started working at Flat6labs in Egypt and then at Uber in Dubai I was beyond inspired by the energy and creativity around me and I caught the entrepreneurship bug. I constantly tried to conjure up ideas or start new business but nothing really stuck till Klekktic.
How did you find the process of setting a business up in the UAE?
I found this process to be super easy and straightforward. The only thing that took a bit of time was setting up a bank account otherwise it was as easy as can be!
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
Being an entrepreneur is extremely stressful and overwhelming most days. I strongly recommend finding a mentor or business partner that can support you in the good and bad times.