Collector has been shaping the Middle East’s home décor market for 11 years and they specialize in tailor-made safety drawer sets for luxury jewelry and accessories. The company was founded by Mr. Nehad Eissa and they were originally part of Dolphin Jewelry Boxes Production which was started in 2008. Mr. Eissa, who is passionate about luxury personal belongings, was previously employed by one of the most prestigious jewelry groups in The United Arab Emirates, for 42 years. The group was a purveyor of over 22 luxury jewelry and watch brands, hence the reason for Mr. Eissa’s decision to embark on his own journey. With his passion for luxurious jewels, along with his son, Mr. Nehad Jr’s passion for art, Collector was born. The duo felt that they would be successful in the market if they launched a company focused on luxury handcrafted home décor to suit each client’s personal taste if they combined their skills.

Collector was recognized by the Luxury Lifestyle Awards in the category of Best Luxury Home Décor in Middle East. We interviewed Mr. Nehad Eissa, Founder and Owner of Collector, about the history of the company and its influence on the growth of the niche market they have found themselves in.

Luxury Lifestyle Awards: Please, give us an introduction about yourself. What was your position before you founded Collector?

Nehad Eissa: Following my graduation i flew from Egypt to the U.A.E and joined a reputed Groups’s Watches & Jewellery Store where i had worked for a little over 42 year starting off as a sales assistant and ending with the Operations Manager for the group’s 12 U.A.E based stores.

During the 42 year run i had come to witness the storage issue related to the safe keeping on one’s belongings, a good example would be having to pull out a certain exclusive jewellery set kept in our 1 of our showroom’s safe/vault, I would simply have to go through almost all the boxes in the safe to find the set, this issue itself inspired what we know today as Collector, which allows our client’s the opportunity to organise and maintain their most valuable belongings through Collector’ storage solutions.

LLA: Tell us about your journey as founder in the company from when you started it up until now?

Nehad Eissa: We started off as Dolphin Jewellery Boxes Production, manufacturing jewellery boxes, customised gift boxes, wedding boxes and any sort of custom box clients require, even date.

LLA: What sectors of the market did Collector explore before turning to tailor-made drawers and bespoke home décor, and did these other sectors make any noticeable impact on the company?

Nehad Eissa: The GCC national have a habit of lighting up “Bokhoor” & “Oud” (agarwood, a.k.a. gaharu, the dark, resinous heartwood of a large tropical evergreen tree called aquilaria that comes in 15 distinct species.) The oud is usually lit up with heated coal and its smoke is usually pushed over wearables through hand movement for perfuming purposes and so “Shamsa” The Sun was born, a production line of fully customised wardrobe that unfuses cloth with local “Bokhoor & Oud” by heating the bokhoor & distributing the scent/smoke throughout the wardrobe ensuring the cloth are infused with the scent for a little over a week.

LLA: How would you describe the home décor market before you started Collector?

Nehad Eissa: One might find my answer quite strange but i say “Virgin” … rather more as any market. This is the era of innovation, creativity and evolution & Elon Musk has certainly set the best example.

LLA: Please tell us how you conceptualize Collector?

Nehad Eissa: Throughout our 12 year run at Collector it has become quite obvious that there is a widely spread and common issue related to the organization and maintenance of jewellery items at almost every home. We decided then to specialise in safe drawers, my 42 year experience in Jewellery laid the foundation stone and detailed every aspect ensuring we deliver the brand name Collector!

LLA: What innovations has Collector brought to the home décor industry in The Middle East, and what makes it unique to other competitors?

Nehad Eissa: Collector has changed the concept of owning a safe, a highly unsaleable product, purchased usually once or twice in a lifetime into a unique piece of art that matches surrounding decor as well as tailoring & detailing every aspect. Every safe or safe segmentation/drawers designed by Collector is unique in its own way, made as per the request of each and every client.

Today it’s not only about safeguarding your valuables, rather owning a safe from Collector identifies who you are, identifies clients as being the “crème de la crème”.

LLA: How do you accomplish such a high-ranking level of service at Collector?

Nehad Eissa: We focus on personalisation, high standards of customer service, complimentary after sales service, guess our motto would be the best definition, Settle for no less than PERFECT!

LLA: What modifications and developments in The Middle East luxury home décor industry have you witnessed in recent years?

Nehad Eissa: The bigger the better, there is a major shift from owning a safe to Constructing a Safe Room.

Customer’s are building new homes, most of these newly constructed villas have a space dedicated for a safe room.

We certainly don’t miss out on an opportunity and that is why we here at Collector have put a department together to serve that purpose. Design, production, installation and all the way up to the strong door, we got our clients all covered.

LLA: Collector is a prominent and well known brand in The Middle East’s home décor market. What projections do you see for the company’s development, and do you have any exciting plans set out for the future?

Nehad Eissa: We would rather talk about the results, you ask me that same question next year while handing out the Luxury Lifestyle Award Best Home Decor Middle East 2022 and I will show you how far we have come and in just one year.

LLA: Lastly, how do you feel about winning in The Luxury Lifestyle Awards in the category of Best Luxury Home décor in The Middle East?

Nehad Eissa: It’s been an honor, a recognition of innovation.