UAE-born Zuma weaves bespoke luxury carpets for royals and beyond

There’s nothing more gratifying than seeing your work adorn the highest echelons of society. For Zubin Rao and Mallika Dewan, that moment of validation came during Eid Al Adha last year when the Rulers of the UAE were photographed at Abu Dhabi’s Mushrif Palace in a hall lined with their exquisite carpet, Dunes Crema. It was yet another affirmation that their tasteful carpets met the standards of discerning clients who insist on the highest level of design excellence, craftsmanship and aesthetics.

“Our products reaching the most prestigious palace in the country was a proud and humbling moment, for which we are profoundly grateful, especially for me as I grew up in the UAE and have lived here for the past 25 years,” says Zubin, who founded ZUMA with Mallika, his partner in design and life.

From concept and design to creation and execution, it was a fitting culmination of a year-long process, with the palace choosing Dunes Crema, developed in the desert scapes of Dubai, alongside signature designs such as Silk Splatter 3.0, Blobb and Saadiyat for large spaces reserved for important occasions. 

Beyond borders

Set up in 2020, the UAE-grown brand has spread its wings across the GCC and beyond. Having found loyal clients within royal establishments, high-end residences, and luxury hotels across the GCC, ZUMA today is synonymous with luxury and a benchmark of fine quality and excellence.

In addition to residences and commercial properties, ZUMA has also provided bespoke carpeting solutions to elite institutions such as the Museum of the Future.

With an expanding footprint, ZUMA has gone beyond the borders of GCC and caters to bespoke design houses in London, New York, India, Egypt, Nairobi, Nigeria, Cyprus, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Norway and Seychelles.

As one of the largest stockists of luxury hand-tufted carpets and rugs in the GCC, ZUMA has collaborated with more than 500 interior designers and contractors in the region. What makes the company super specialist in its field is its design philosophy defined by the founders’ personalities; blending creativity and technical expertise, Zubin and Mallika lead a talented team of textile and product designers at their headquarters in Dubai Production City where all their designs are conceptualised.

“We try to create carpets that are timeless, tasteful, elegant and versatile,” explains Mallika, Co-founder, Interior Designer and Brand Manager of ZUMA. “Being an architect, Zubin’s designs reflect clean and sharp lines with play of light and balance of textures. I bring in a more intuitive sense in pairing colours and patterns, and my designs have a lot of undertones with a soft feminine touch. So I’d say Zubin brings in a bold character and an iconic style, whereas carpets that I work on focus mainly on adding colour, fluidity and a homely touch to a space.”

Vision to reality

When a client places a request for a bespoke carpet or rug with ZUMA, it turns into an immersive experience, says Mallika, with a lot of hand-holding at every stage to help them achieve what they have in mind. ZUMA begins the process by understanding the brief correctly and a study of the client’s space, personality and style follows. It’s only after that the company draws on its design expertise and deep technical knowledge to come up with a vision that matches the client’s imagination and suits their space.

“Our in-house team of textile designers translates the vision into a tangible design, highlighting the colours, construction, orientation of pattern and scale,” she explains.

Supported by a skilled workforce handpicked from various corners of South East Asia – some of whom have been working in the hand-made carpet industry for more than three generations – ZUMA exercises full control over the quality and technical brilliance of the carpets produced at its in-house boutique manufacturing premises.

With a capacity of 5,000 square metres, Zuma’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility averages about 3,000 square metres of hand-tufted and handloom carpets a month for clients in the GCC and beyond.

The art and technique

Unlike hand-knotted carpets, hand-tufted ones are more flexible and versatile to design with the added advantage of shorter periods of production. Zubin fell in love with this art and the technique when he started working on a few large-scale hand-tufted carpets for the Address hotels in Dubai as well as other hospitality projects. 

“It’s a manufacturing technique that is not more than 100 years old and is still evolving, and we would like to think that ZUMA is pushing the boundaries of design and innovation when it comes to modern hand-tufted carpets in the industry,” he says.

Today ZUMA regularly manufactures oversized, custom single pieces – the largest it has ever produced was a 3,000-square-metre carpet for a hospitality project. “We have produced a completely bespoke 600 square-metre, single-piece carpet in just 26 days,” Zubin explains. “We have also handed over a bespoke 60 square-metre carpet in just 12 days from factory to installation onsite.”

Zubin and Mallika are driven by the urge to design unique pieces that lift a space up, tapping into their understanding of textiles and craftsmanship to create magnificent works of art. 

“We are a UAE-born brand and we take pride in bringing together our Indian heritage of textile and weaving it with the dynamic multi-cultural design scenes of Dubai,” says Mallika.

Carpets to interior design consultancy

Although they started out with designing carpets, they have naturally expanded into interior design consultancy, fit-out solutions, parquet flooring, and bespoke furniture – all in the pursuit of designing beautiful spaces that connect and reflect people’s individualities.

ZUMA has a dynamic interior design portfolio. Over the past six years, it has successfully handed over around 14 turnkey projects covering both residential and commercial properties. From the sprawling and magnificent apartments at One at Palm Jumeirah, Dorchester and One JBR to several golf course villas, show villas in Sobha Hartland and real estate offices in Business Bay, ZUMA’s clients are an eclectic mix. ZUMA is currently designing a restaurant at the Marriot hotels in Al Jadaf, a luxury residential villa in Arabian Ranches and another real estate office in Business Bay.

“We truly believe that carpets and interior design solutions don't compete with each other but work together in harmony to create incredible spaces,” says Mallika.