We are interviewing Mallika Dewan Rao, the Brand Manager, and Zubin Rao, the Founder and Managing Director of ZUMA Design Consultants FZ-LLC. It’s a leading interior design and product consultancy firm based in Dubai. Their primary vision has always been to create functional concepts that interpret, enhance, and reflect their clients’ design language, whether through their interior design solutions or carpets.
Today, ZUMA Design Consultants is synonymous with quality and luxury interiors. They have successfully completed turnkey projects in some of the most prestigious residential buildings, private villas, show villas, office spaces, and more. Mallika and Zubin’s commitment to their clients, their craft, their team, and their resilience to keep working hard in pursuit of their vision makes them exemplary leaders in the industry. Learn more through the interview below.
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What’s the idea behind your Company?
Zuma is a unified whole that harbors Zubin and Mallika’s creative ideas and design inspirations. We are partners in life and design. Our primary idea and vision have always been to create functional concepts that interpret, enhance, and reflect the design language of our clients, whether through our interior design solutions or carpets.
How did you begin your career journey? Do you have some advice for beginners?
Both of our careers started in our early 20s in India, where we were fortunate to work alongside some of the best minds in the architecture and home textile industry. After spearheading some critical projects in India and GCC in our respective fields, we decided to start our own company. When we started, we already had a firm grasp on carpet solutions. Within the second year of business, we decided to delve deeply into interior architecture, design, and styling solutions.
Our advice to beginners would be to start somewhere, hone your skills, work hard, and pursue your passion.
What’s the goal of Your Company?
To have a lasting legacy of timeless quality, innovative techniques, and design, whether it is for an individual bespoke piece or a complete interior solution.
How important are employees’ energy levels to the success of Your Company?
We have a team of qualified architects and designers. Our office is a creative space, and as with any design-oriented industry, we believe that the positive mindset of our team is paramount, even more so than their energy levels.
How do you plan to motivate your team to go the extra mile?
A creative mind needs freedom to flourish. Therefore, we strive to create an environment that fosters creativity, where ideas are encouraged and refined. Whenever we deliver a high-quality product or project, it serves as a significant motivation not only for our team but also for us to go the extra mile.
What keeps Your Company moving forward even during challenges?
Challenges are always present and will continue to be present, in some form or another when running a company. Our commitment to our clients, our craft, our team, and our resilience keeps us steady in pursuit of our vision.
How do you think technology is leading to changes in businesses? Do you feel it’s helping Your Company grow?
Technology is a crucial aspect of every sphere of our world today, and our business is no exception. We believe that understanding and correctly implementing technology has helped us improve final finishes, aided in better visualization of our designs, altered staggering timelines, and given us a wider reach and diversity with our clientele. Therefore, we continuously educate ourselves on new technologies that can consistently benefit us in the long run.
How is Your Company adapting to digitalization?
We are right up there.
Do you use innovative ideas to be unique?
We work very closely with our design and production team to instill innovative ideas in every aspect of our business; but more than that, our uniqueness shines through in our quality. We procure the best and the finest raw materials to deliver superior products. We feel that our niche is in our quality and finesse.
What are the services/solutions or products offered by Your Company as par with the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services.
We are interior architects and product specialists, and carpets are an integral aspect of what we do. We have gained incredible fame throughout the GCC (hotels, palaces, high-end residential), and today a Zuma carpet is synonymous with quality and luxury interiors and that’s our biggest accolade.
On the interior front, we have successfully completed full turnkey projects in some of the most prestigious residential buildings, private villas, show villas, and office spaces. We will soon unveil our first commercial interior turnkey project for a salon space in Dubai Downtown, followed by a few luxury golf course villas, to name a few.
Would you like to say anything else to our viewers?
We would like to thank you for taking the time to read this interview, and we look forward to welcoming you soon to the Zuma Design Library.
Connect with Zubin Rao & Mallika Dewan Rao on LinkedIn