Home decoration can often be a tedious and frustrating journey. Often it is challenging to find the right piece of furniture that ticks all your checks- size, style, color, and the most dreadful- budget! Roya Karchani, a former interior decorator and entrepreneur, put her finger to this pain point and is now a proud owner of a high-quality custom furniture business. She brings your ideas to life by providing custom furniture when you can’t find the right piece at the big box stores!
What does RK Furniture do, what kind of products/services do you provide?
At RK Royal Design & Furniture, our mission is to provide our community with high-quality, uniquely designed furniture at reasonable prices. We specialize primarily in modern, contemporary, and transitional styles. We also provide customers with the opportunity to custom design their furniture at no extra cost by choosing every detail, such as fabric style and color, stainless steel color, and tabletop materials such as marble and tempered glass.
We have hundreds of designs to choose from, so customers can truly reflect and bring their tastes to life. Lastly, we offer free interior decorating services to our purchasing clients. We intend to assist them every step of the way.
Tell us about your background?
My background is in interior decorating, as that’s what I studied in Toronto. In 2011, I started my interior decorating firm and noticed that most customers had a common complaint: the lack of variety in styles, especially at reasonable prices. Customers either had to compromise money or style.
In 2017, I decided to take a leap of faith and travel to attend some of the world’s largest furniture fairs, and that’s how the company expanded and added sales to the portfolio. Since then, we’ve been importing the latest designs, as well as designing and manufacturing our custom designs. I’m an avid learner, so I thoroughly enjoy reading books, primarily in the personal development genre.
I also have my book club, so it’s been great discussing the books with the members. Pre-covid, traveling was a massive part of my lifestyle, especially since I need to be showcasing the latest styles from around the world in the store. I’ve been to over 25 countries so far. My favorites are Italy, Spain, and France, as their interior decorating and architecture are truly mesmerizing.
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
When I first decided to expand the business to include furniture sales, everyone in the industry advised me against it. They kept telling me that the market is over-saturated and that I wouldn’t succeed, ‘especially as a woman.’ My immediate family members and some close friends were the only ones who had faith in my vision and provided support throughout every step of the journey.
There were many challenges along the way, especially when I was trying to figure out how to bring the vision to life in the most efficient way. I believe that to be successful in a business, it’s crucial to understand how every department functions, so the beginning was tough, with me having to learn many new skills and trades, all at once.
Looking back now, I am happy that I did not listen to the critics and trusted my intuition. If a desire exists within you, honor its presence! And that’s why it is important to celebrate all the women who overcame the discouragement and fulfilled their dreams!
Has COVID affected your business?
At first, when the showrooms shut down, we experienced a massive hit. However, after a few weeks, as we pivoted and created a more significant online presence, we noticed more online inquiries. This was because of several reasons:
- People were not traveling or entertaining, so they had more disposable income.
- After spending countless weeks indoors and staring at the same furniture, people decided to spice things up and upgrade some pieces.
- With interest rates at a historic low, the market saw many people moving houses or new homeowners who needed furniture.
How has your team tackled the challenges posed by COVID-19?
We are shifting from physical appointments to virtual ones and ensuring that we are honoring all safety measures and figuring out the safest and most convenient ways for our customers to place orders. One of our core missions is creating a joyful customer experience, so our team kept that in mind as we were pivoting.
Where do you see your company in the next five years?
I want RK Royal Design and Furniture to expand nationwide. We currently have many customers from other provinces that purchase from us, so ideally, I would like to open showrooms around the country, so it’s more convenient for them to shop. I genuinely believe that everyone deserves to have the home interior of their dreams without breaking the bank, so I want everyone to access our furniture pieces.
Let this International Women’s day bring a ray of hope for all the blooming women entrepreneurs who have or are facing challenges in the business world. You go girl!
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Author: Sadaf Zehra, Content Writer, Toronto, Canada. If you have stories to share kindly email: – zsadaf16@gmail.com
