Design Crew by ariika Brings the Ecosystem Together to Style Your Home

Egyptian furniture brand ariika is no stranger to comfort. First popularised by their signature bean bags, the brand has since grown into a staple of décor in Egypt, becoming one of the fastest growing direct-to-consumer home furnishing brands in the MENA region. But with the launch of their latest home styling service, Design Crew, ariika is leveraging their years of experience in the design ecosystem to bring the concept of consumer comfort to an entirely new level.

“When we created Design Crew, we decided it was going to be 100% free, no commitments, and no questions asked,” Khaled Attalah, Co-founder and CEO of ariika, tells SceneHome. “We wanted to genuinely help our stakeholders have a great experience throughout the journey of creating a home, whether they’re designers or consumers.”

According to Attalah, the objective of Design Crew is simple: how to deliver a great experience to customers through all the stakeholders in the value chain, helping them achieve a personalised result for their space. “We’ve seen it many times where a consumer falls in love with a piece of furniture, but still, there’s something missing, which is: how to make the whole home feel right?”

To that end, the Design Crew process begins when a prospective customer books a consultation in person or online with ariika. Matched with a designer, the client then explains what they’re looking for, and together the client and designer begin curating a vision that begins first with a mood board and then encompasses furniture selection, layout and colour. Once the final proposal is sent to the client, they can decide to move forward with it—or not.

“Design Crew is built to be a simple and stress-free service,” says Dana Mito, Head of Design Crew at ariika. “Lots of people have asked what ariika gets out of it. What we get out of it is that we make things easier for you and remove the hassle.”

The launch party, which was hosted at ariika’s store in Mall of Egypt, was a preview of just how ariika is bringing the ecosystem together to serve customers, with guests ranging from interior designers and décor creators to architects, consultants and real estate developers. Many of the official partners of Design Crew, which include Sallab, El Araby, Seven, and Tamia, were also in attendance, while live workshops by Egyptian textile brand Naseej and multinational paint powerhouse Jotun led visitors through simple demonstrations of how to bring new concepts to life.

Jotun’s activation, for example, allowed guests to envision their own space using Jotun’s paint collection and ariika’s furniture, while Naseej walked guests through interactive mood board design using their signature textiles. StitchedEra, a Cairo-based custom embroidery brand, embroidered pillowcases on the spot for guests. Other partners of Design Crew include Brassbell, which offers furnished, fully serviced homes in hotspot neighbourhoods across Cairo and Alexandria.

“At the scale we’re currently at, having thousands of units across different property classes, you find out that your partners become a reflection of you and your product,” Adham Elbedewy, Executive Vice President at Brassbell Hospitality Group, told SceneHome at the event. “I believe our partnership with ariika’s Design Crew works because we’re genuinely aligned as to what ‘good’ actually looks like.”

Similarly, Ibrahim AlShami, Managing Director at Jotun Egypt, added, “We have a common understanding and ambition with ariika, which is how can we help consumers create beautiful, full-colour design, and not only a space that looks good but a space that makes them feel good about it.”

To try ariika's Design Crew service, users first fill out a short form about the space they wish to style before meeting with one of ariika's experts via call or in-store session. After the consultation, clients receive a personalised design and the choice to shop the look—or the guiltless choice not to.