We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mohamad Alkhayat a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mohamad, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

When I arrived to America more than 22 years ago, I noticed confusion in home decor magazines between Moroccan furniture and Syrian furniture. Mistakenly always describe mother of pearl inlaid Syrian furniture as Moroccan furniture. Growing in family where they had one of the largest workshop specialize in handmade mother of pearl inlay Syrian furniture in Damascus, I understand the difference very well. I made it my mission to educate interior designers who confuse Syrian furniture with Moroccan furniture.

Mohamad, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Alkhayat is furniture showroom specialize in handcrafted mother of pearl inlaid Syrian furniture. Combining my passion for design & business, I opened my first showroom in the year of 2006 in NYC as an extension of my family business that started by my grandfather around 1935 in Damascus Syria.

My drive to creating and designing authentic Mother of pearl inlaid Syrian furniture grew stronger as I cooperated with several interior designers in NYC. I took Syrian furniture to a next level by creating shapes that fit the modern living without losing the authentic Syrian inlay technique that existed for hundreds of years.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

when I opened my first showroom in NYC, my family workshop in Damascus was straggling and almost closed due to the lack of orders and funds. I decided to take over the workshop and manufacture my own line of design of Syrian mother of pearl furniture. I reshaped furniture style to fit the houses in USA by making it modern and contemporary. The beginning was very challenging because I’m trying something very new to the industry. With time and hard work in marketing, The business start to pickup and homeowners love the uniqueness of my designs.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

A fashion boutique shop called Novecento Boutique in Crystal Cove shopping center in Newport Beach CA approached me and asked me to decorate their shop with some of my furniture, in the window display and inside the shop. I have taking the risk to my furniture for free in this shop not knowing for sure how it will benefit my business. when the display is done, clients who visited the boutique loved my furniture and they asking the owner where is it from. It end up worth the risk and benefited my business by increasing the sales.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alkhayatfaf.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alkhayat_furniture/

Image Credits
Mohamad Alkhayat