The Art of Curation

OBEGI Home is recognised as one of the strongest regional leaders in fine furniture and luxury interiors. With roots in Lebanon, Karine Obegi and her husband Yordan established the business’s headquarters in Dubai in 2006. Recognising that Jumeirah was a neighbourhood that bridged the modernity and heritage of the city, they opened OBEGI Home’s first location there. “We were told we were crazy for not establishing in the existent furniture districts, but our instinct told us Jumeirah was right for us,” shares Karine. Ten years later in 2016, OBEGI Home launched its now flagship store in a coveted space near Burj Al Arab. “When the opportunity arose to secure a space next to the iconic building, we knew that this would be the ideal backdrop for our new showroom,” she says. “However, at the time, modern architecture was not permitted on Jumeirah Beach Road. It took nine months of negotiation with local authorities to allow us to design something that stepped away from traditional architecture.” What Karine didn’t anticipate was that by opening a showroom in that location, she would start a trend that would change the city’s landscape. Fast forward ten years, and Jumeirah Beach Road has transformed into a hub with luxury furniture stores lining the street. Today, it’s even popularly referred to as Dubai’s own ‘furniture district’.

In early 2024, OBEGI Home also opened a monobrand Poliform showroom. Celebrating a 15-year relationship with the contemporary Italian brand, Karine shares that moving the brand into its own dedicated showroom allowed OBEGI Home to express it better and offer an immersive brand experience: “What I think is most special is that while the space showcases Poliform’s identity, it also has a soul of its own that is a blend of both the brand’s elegance and Dubai’s nuances.” 

Flexform

Curating with Purpose

We asked Karine about how, after building a reputation as the go-to retailer for luxury furniture for over two decades, she and her team curate OBEGI Home’s selection of brands. “There are four factors we look for when identifying new brands to add to our portfolio: quality, style, vision and team,” she explains. Each potential partnership involves an in-person assessment, including factory visits to ensure the highest standards. Karine also states that, over time, OBEGI Home developed a reputation for being a trend-setting destination for contemporary furniture, which is why another element her team looks at is the vison of the brand. “What is the DNA of the brand? How creative and ambitious is their vision for the future? These are important questions we ask to make sure we are partnering with brands that will evolve with each year so that we can continue to bring new possibilities for our clients that fulfil even their unspoken needs,” she states. The final factor, team, is a reference to the connections between the brands and OBEGI Home itself. “Our business is a people business, and a solid connection with the teams that lead our brands is a key success factor. As a family business, our values and ethics underpin everything we do, and we only work with partners that share those values. This is how we cultivate long-term relationships with our suppliers that are based on mutual respect and trust,” shares Karine. 

Service, Quality and Relationships

Over the years, while the business has grown rapidly, it has not been without its challenges. Maintaining the same standards of service as the business and market change is a key focus. “Our clients are incredibly sophisticated and educated world travellers, and their expectations rise year on year,” notes Karine. “The challenge lies in delivering a totally tailored experience for each client while also applying a systematic approach that is necessary for the smooth operation of a company of our size.” To do so, OBEGI Home uses defined processes while also preserving flexibility for team members to deliver a customised solution within these processes. “This allows us to be organised, yet personalised,” she explains.

OBEGI Home’s approach towards clients and design professionals is the same: to develop their vision through the team’s deep expertise and a network of brands and artisans that has been built over decades. “We work in collaboration with designers or end users to transform their concept into reality in a homogeneous way that ties everything together aesthetically and functionally,” says Karine. “Our team’s extensive knowledge of both the style and technicalities of our furniture enables them to craft the best design solutions for every project, which often go beyond the original brief to deliver an even more appealing result.” 

Porada and Lualdi

Karine reflects that the end-user experience is typically far more emotional. “There is an element of personal touch that is required along with expertise to help homeowners their vision to life,” she says. “Professionals, on the other hand, have clear concepts in mind but work with us to execute them with speed, precision and the best selections. In both cases, we always strive to alleviate our clients of the burden of bringing their renderings to reality.” Karine also believes that with each project there is always an exchange of both knowledge and expertise. “When working with homeowners, we learn how the modern lifestyle is evolving. The spaces they want to create and the problems they want to solve at home are ever-changing, and this helps us refine our offering. With our professional clients, we learn about the trends that are in demand in our local markets and the details that matter today. My favourite meetings are the ones in which designers challenge us to achieve a certain level of detail for their projects. They know what they want for their clients, and we have the resources to make it happen.” 

Creativity, Karine emphasises, is the engine of it all: “Clients often ask for the impossible, and the only way we can make that happen is through creativity. This is where twenty years of expertise, network and out-of-the-box thinking converge to connect the dots and make the impossible possible.”

”As a family business, our values and ethics underpin everything we do, and we only work with partners that share those value“

Gearing for Growth

As part of the regional growth plan, OBEGI Home is now expanding to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with a selection of brands, and opening multiple monobrand showrooms for powerhouses such as B&B Italia, Edra, Lualdi, Paola Lenti, Poliform and more – a strategy seemingly different to the one in Dubai, but in fact created with the same comprehensive thinking that led to OBEGI Home’s success. “The combination of the brands we will represent in KSA allows us to furnish a full home in a contemporary style – including doors, kitchens, wardrobes, lighting, indoor and outdoor furniture, entertainment and much more,” explains Karine. 

While the brands are housed in distinct monobrand spaces, they’re seamlessly connected through OBEGI Home’s design vision. Located just steps apart, these showrooms offer a unified, multi-brand experience rooted in a singular design narrative. “Saudi Arabia is a fascinating and growing market,” notes Karine. “We are excited to be one of the pioneers in the KAFD Design District, which is set to become Riyadh’s leading destination for luxury furniture.”

But this isn’t all. After a significant growth in OBEGI’s multi-unit business in the UAE, the company will continue to work with the country’s top developers to bring refined living to residents. “We were among the first to collaborate with developers to introduce branded spaces into residential developments, and we are excited to continue growing together with those partners. Working on large-scale, multi-unit projects pushes us to sharpen our offering in order to deliver beautiful, value-accretive solutions on time and on budget.”

Poliform monobrand showroom

Another big project locally is the launch of two new monobrand showrooms for Flexform and Lualdi on Jumeirah Beach Road in 2026. 

In terms of its multi-brand offering, Parisian brand BOON_EDITIONS is the latest addition. “Born from a gallery concept, BOON_EDITIONS beautifully captures the collectible furniture trend while creating functional furniture. The true definition of form meets function,” says Karine. “We are excited to see the market’s response to its forward-thinking collections.”

Other projects are in the works, but those are to be revealed in due time. “The industry is rapidly changing, both globally and locally, and we are working hard to ensure we continue to not only respond to those changes, but also forecast what’s to come. Our goal to is to always serve our clients with the strongest 360-degree offering on the market.” 

Antoniolupi sinks

In a competitive landscape, OBEGI Home stands out not just for what it offers, but how it offers it. “You have to trust your instincts, but also know how to listen, understand and interpret the needs of your customers,” Karine says. “As the company grows, one of the most important things I want to preserve is the entrepreneurial spirit. That spirit is what encouraged us to make bold moves over the last two decades, and led us where we are today.” That spirit is grounded in ethics – a core value in a family-run business. “Maintaining an ethical approach to everything we do is also important to me, as the company is a reflection of my family’s personal values. Whenever you make the ethical choice in a hard situation, you will always come out ahead, no matter what,” Karine expresses. It’s a sentiment that reverberates across every aspect of OBEGI Home’s operations.

Quick Questions with Karine

 

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Photography by Mark Mathew