The Sarquis Samara sculpting company sold all its sample pieces to a distributor in the United Arab Emirates. The company, named after its
founder, is participating in Index, the Middle East’s premier trade show for furniture and decoration, for the first time.
Marina Sarruf, special envoy*
Dubai – The stand for the Sarquis Samara sculpting company, from the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, sold all the pieces showcased at Index, the Middle East’s biggest trade show for furniture and decoration, in the first hour of the event, which started yesterday (06) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “A distributor from Dubai saw the pieces and bought them all to exhibit at his showrooms here in Dubai and in Spain. He did not even ask the price,” said the company owner and sculptor, Sarquis Samara.
This is the company’s first time in a Middle Eastern trade show, and its first time closing a deal with an Arab country. The pieces, ranging from napkin holders to pictures and armchairs, are made of fully recyclable aluminium and adorned with feathers, wood, bones, cloth, crystals and synthetic skin. The 200 pieces exhibited at the stand are worth approximately US$ 40,000. The products will be delivered at the end of the trade show.
“I am never too confident when I go to a trade show. But I felt accepted here. My pieces are really overstated, with a lot of gloss and different materials. I guess that pleased the Arabs,” said Samara, who is a grandson of Lebanese immigrants. The sculptor’s stand features pieces ranging from US$ 20, for a napkin holder, to US$ 1,100, for a sculpture.
Samara’s stand was the busiest in the Brazilian pavilion. Many importers showed up at the site, but end consumers were the most interested ones. Women, in burkas or not, stopped by to take a look. “We are manufacturers. We only sell to wholesale buyers,” said the sculptor.
Samara currently exports his decorative objects to Angola, Portugal, Italy, the United States, Spain, Argentina and Bolivia. He estimates that 10% of his output is aimed at the foreign market. “We are craftspeople working on an industrial scale. We have 3,000 different models. Most of them are pictures,” he said.
By the end of the first day of the trade show, the sculptor had already received 20 orders from the Emirates, England, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Samara’s atelier was established eight years ago in the southern Brazilian city of Londrina, and has 40 employees.
Promising contacts
The Index trade show was inaugurated by the Minister of Finance and Industry, Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the deputy ruler of Dubai. He passed by the Brazilian stand and was received by the Brazilian ambassador in the Emirates, Flávio Albuquerque Sapha. The Brazilian pavilion, which covers an area of 1,200 square metres and features 45 companies, was quite busy. Overall, the companies made about 260 contacts, including several promising ones, such as the contacts by Móveis Sipiolli, which received importers from Lebanon and Sudan who were interested in racks and shelves.
“We have exported to the Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Algiers, but we have not done business in Lebanon and Sudan yet,” said company director Newton Cláudio Silva Pinto. According to him, Index is a trade show that opens up great business opportunities. This is his fourth participation.
Another company that made good contacts was Grando Estofados, which received importers from the Emirates, India, Iraq and Lebanon. The company also sold some of its sample pieces to end consumers.
Yesterday alone, the Formanova company, based in Palhoça, Santa Catarina, made 40 contacts. The company already has a representative in the Emirates who is interested in establishing a showroom for the company in Dubai. “The Arab market is worth investing in. The people in the area are not acquainted with Brazilian furniture yet, but they can tell the quality is good,” said the company export manager, Karina Botelho.
One of the contacts that approached the company was a hotel furniture distribution company representative. According to Botelho, he was interested in a China Closet and a console. If the deal is closed, the Arab importer will purchase 300 pieces of each item.
Arab interest
In addition to foreign companies, Index also features stands for Dubai importers. The companies are mostly groups operating in different sectors, such as furniture, carpets, decorative objects, restaurant groups, travel agencies etc. The Al Aqili group, for instance, represents over 30 brands of high-end furniture from all over the world. They are planning to open 32 stores in the Arab Gulf region in the next two years.
The Arab group is not importing from Brazil yet, but it is willing to get to know Brazilian products. The company favours branding and quality. Another company that belongs to a group from Dubai is El Mamounia, which has two showrooms in the Emirates and is already an importer of Brazilian furniture.
“We began importing from Brazil last year, when we visited the Abimad trade show, in São Paulo. My clients enjoy classic, traditional furniture,” said the manager of the showroom, Ramzi Bouabid. The company imports mainly from Morocco, Egypt and Indonesia.
According to Bouabid, the Arabs are fond of exclusive, spacious pieces with original designs. “We are always renewing our merchandise, because my clients change their furniture every two years,” says Bouabid, who sells to the palaces of Sheikhs in the Emirates and surroundings.
