Life & Style | People
Personal touches
Rouky's Corner is about personalised, unique gifts that friends and family can give to one another.
- By Ruqya Khan, a Sharjah-based freelancer
- Published: 23:34 January 1, 2009
- Salma Massoud and her sister, Reham, have started a business making personalised gifts. They collect the unique details of the gift receiver from the giver and hand-paint each item. Each gift is one of a kind.
- Image Credit: Grace Paras/ANM
Rouky's Corner is about personalised, unique gifts that friends and family can give to one another on different occasions such as birthdays, family gatherings, weddings, anniversaries, Eid, Ramadan and so on.
"It is about giving something special that only the receiver will have – there are no others which are the same; each gift is unique," insists Salma Massoud, the brains behind this gifting system. She and her sister Reham have
a lot on their plates these days – quite literally. The creative duo run the business.
Conceptualised last year, the idea for this concept to creation gifting design was planted when the sisters began thinking
about what to give their parents on their anniversary.
Massoud recalls: "We were brainstorming what we could do for them on their special day.
We have given them all sorts of expensive luxury gifts previously so we wanted to do something different. We wanted to tell them that our love for them is beyond going to a store and choosing an expensive gift. We wanted to tell them we have thought about them and put a lot of effort into their gift.
That year, we created a personalised newspaper for them. They loved it! This year we made them a personalised plate. Friends and family liked the idea so much that they too wanted a piece for themselves. We decided to continue making such pieces as a small work from home business."
Though their business is relatively new, the feedback from people has been enthusiastic. They sell their crafts at art fairs and receive orders at these events.
"At the last art fair we attended, we had people requesting full sets of plates and serving platters as wedding gifts with each plate personalised. Other people have made the plates as their wedding invitation, as each invite is personalised with the wedding details. Our plan is to expand and make our company in the Middle East," Massoud adds.
What sets Rouky's Corner apart is its personal touches to the gifts they sell. "We visited several gift stores and know that while gifts are widely available in Dubai, personalised gifts are not. By virtue of our concept, the chances of you and someone else having the same plate are zero.
Every plate is carefully hand-painted after the customer instructs the personality attributes of the person for whom the gift is intended.
"In a world that has become so busy, we often lose touch with people we love. Personalisation is a key means of showing affection. It is not about the price you pay for the gift – it is about how much thought you have put into it," Massoud says.
"If you have an idea, make it a reality. We had lots of ideas before but we never really took action.
What this business has taught us
so far is that you should pursue
your ideas because only then can they be realised!"
– Ruqya Khan, a Sharjah-based freelancer
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