DUBAI How do you know your dining table is solid as a rock and sturdy as an oak?
Ask Ujjwal Goel. According to the 23-year-old director of Dubai-based luxury interiors company, La Sorogeeka, the best way to find that out is to drive a Dh2 million Lamborghini onto it and park it there. “If it withstands the weight, (roughly 1.9 tonnes), you know it’s strong. If it looks good on it, then you know you are staring at nothing but sheer class only a Lamborghini can match,” says Goel who has done just that. At the ongoing International Design Exhibition (INDEX) Goel and his partner Robeen R. Kobeen, 35, of Casa Prestige have pitchforked the Italian supercar – gold-plated bonnet to boot – on the top of the bespoke table named Royal Affair.
“We had to do something unique and classy and that’s how the idea came about,” says Kobeen, a Swedish-Italian of Iraqi origin who’s customised Lamborghini supercars in the past. “Getting them to allow one of their cars to display on the table was not that far fetched,” adds Kobeen, a graduate in interior design from London.
So what’s the big deal about the seemingly giant table that’s got the crowd swooning over it and what does it cost? “Priceless, if you ask me but if I were to sell it, I wouldn’t give it away for anything under at least Dh100,000 and that’s just the table,” says Goel who has lived in Singapore, Barcelona, London and Los Angeles.
“Every moulding you see is hand carved and the entire piece is hand crafted,” explains the Delhi-born who moved to Dubai eight months ago to set up his showroom in Boulevard Plaza. The four-day INDEX 2015 runs until May 21 at the World Trade Centre.
THE ROYAL AFFAIR
The 22-seater dining set – aptly christened Royal Affair – won the Best Product Design Award in the Residential Furniture Category on the opening night of INDEX 2015.
It weighs all of 3 tons (about 2,700kg) and is made of pure Burma Teak wood base, finished with brass silver plating and boasts a special ‘champagne leafing’. The chairs made of 99.99% sterling silver, each weighing between 15 and 20kg, are stitched with exotic ostrich leather.
