Furniture and homeware company Blend Furniture has established a strong reputation as a leading light in the Egyptian interior design marketplace. Founded in 2012, they supply an impressive selection of high-quality exclusive pieces for the home while offering premium personal service to every customer. The company has been chosen by the expert panel at Luxury Lifestyle Awards as a winner in the category of Best Luxury Furniture and Homeware in Egypt for 2021. We spoke to founder and CEO Ramy Effat about his company’s philosophy, the state of the interior design marketplace in Egypt and further afield and the company’s plans for the future.

Luxury Lifestyle Awards: What makes Blend Furniture stand out from the crowd in the Luxury Furniture industry in Egypt?

Ramy Effat: We take our DNA seriously to the extent that it is not just a representation of our core values, but also an acronym to what we stand for DESIGN | Needs | Alliances.

Design Simply everything we are is about design, and everything we present or work with is carefully designed (even internal forms).

Needs, our passion and motivation is derived from understanding the needs of our clients and market, even those needs that are not yet recognized or acknowledged by them.

Alliances, our foundation is built on true alliances, with brands, teams, designers, banks, as well as any stakeholder that is within the Blend circle.

LLA: What is the current state of the interior design, furniture, and homeware market in Egypt?

RE: an unprecedented level of determination, creativity, and exposure. The industry is shaping up to an astonishing state, moving beyond replicating inter-national design trends, to rather be a state of its own.

LLA: Where do you and your team get your inspiration and creative ideas from?

RE: literally everywhere, we encourage our team to look beyond the immediate market and immediate customer to more broad lifestyle inspirations. Our services and ideas are often inspired from hospitality, fashion, travel, Fin-tech, and seriously everywhere.

LLA: What challenges do you encounter working in this competitive market?

RE: In that sense, I would define competition as a positive challenge, as it pushes us all to do better, serve better, and offer better.

LLA: How important is excellence in customer service to the company?

RE: We are nothing without our customers, and not because of the financial aspect of the relationship, but rather more of the motivational part, it is because of our customers and the feedback we receive we are able to do better and improve, thus the service comes as a necessity to grow and not to just satisfy.

LLA: How do you ensure you are attracting people with the correct expertise to work within your team?

RE: Every part of the business reflects on the other, having a successful brand in itself is an attraction point, but most importantly building a team and a family is what ensures the sustainability and growth of the business, and hence attracts the right caliber.

LLA: What systems do you have in place to discover, encourage, and promote local talent within the industry?

RE: Among the renowned brands we represent and display, we allow for those local young brands who demonstrate excellence in their products and quality to be featured, and offered side by side with those international brands, with a special focus on providing them with the best practice guidance for them to grow within our platform.

LLA: What is your philosophy behind the stylish design and layout of your showrooms?

RE: let me put this simply, We Blend.

LLA: How do you rate the importance of social media in promoting your products?

RE: Helps us reach a bigger client base, inspire more people, and get faster and more accurate feedback about our products and services.

Surely social media helped grow our brand significantly.

LLA: What trends are you currently seeing coming through in the furniture and homewares market?

RE: Exotic stones and marbles, glass, and handcrafted unique pieces are among the strongest trends I can personally observe

LLA: How has the global pandemic affected your business?

RE: Positively when in general people rediscovered their homes, after years of fast-moving lives, and as a business mainly serving the residential sector we were blessed with an increasing demand for our products and services. On the negative side, I don’t believe we faced or are still facing anything different than any other sector around the world.

LLA: Having already expanded considerably and quickly in the Cairo area do you have plans for further expansion?

RE: I guess you will have to wait and see what we plan next, I believe in our potential and in my team, and we are only scratching the surface.

LLA: What are your goals for the future, both nationally and internationally?

RE: We aim to become the most significant platform for Furniture and homeware in the Region.

W: Blend Furniture