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Japanese luxury home decor store opens first outlet in ‘center of the world’ Middle East

Located in the Dubai Mall, Nadurra Japan opened its doors to the public Friday. (Supplied)
Located in the Dubai Mall, Nadurra Japan opened its doors to the public Friday. (Supplied)
Located in the Dubai Mall, Nadurra Japan opened its doors to the public Friday. (Supplied)
Located in the Dubai Mall, Nadurra Japan opened its doors to the public Friday. (Supplied)
Located in the Dubai Mall, Nadurra Japan opened its doors to the public Friday. (Supplied)
Located in the Dubai Mall, Nadurra Japan opened its doors to the public Friday. (Supplied)
Located in the Dubai Mall, Nadurra Japan opened its doors to the public Friday. (Supplied)
Located in the Dubai Mall, Nadurra Japan opened its doors to the public Friday. (Supplied)
12 Nov 2019 12:11:14 GMT9
12 Nov 2019 12:11:14 GMT9

Diana Farah Dubai

The CEO of luxury home decor store Nadurra Japan strongly believes that “the Middle East is in the center of the world.”

As a result, Hiroshi Mizoochi has started his company’s global expansion venture with the opening of a store in Dubai.

“If people in the Arab world and the Middle East like the products, then it goes to Europe, then to the Americas, and so on. You have to go through the Middle East first to get to the other side,” he told Arab News.

Located in the Dubai Mall, Nadurra Japan’s first outlet in the region opened its doors to the public on Friday, a strategy which Mizoochi said was based on the historic movement of silk clothes from China to Europe through the Middle East.

“In Japan, there is a lot of traditional craftwork that has a lot of history. We do not have many chances or opportunities to expose our artwork to the world,” he said.

The retailer also hopes to establish more stores in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Nadurra Japan’s marketing manager, Zoher Chenti, said the main objective of opening the UAE store was to meet a regional demand for the company’s products which had few similarities with Middle Eastern artwork.

Mizoochi said Arabs tended to prefer more exaggerated designs, while Japanese tastes were much more minimalistic. He added that the store’s pieces reflected back on the culture of those who designed them. “Japanese people are generally more modest than Arabs and their designs are hence minimalistic and simple.”

Many of Nadurra Japan’s designs are handcrafted using traditional techniques that go back centuries, and in some cases, items can take months to make. “For example, we have a flower vase that has so many small dots drawn on it, it took six months for this one piece,” said Mizoochi.

Shinsaku Honjo, managing director of Nadurra Japan, feared that Japanese youth were losing touch with the country’s traditional art techniques. “If the items and crafts become popular in this region, they can gain more exposure and young Japanese people will become more interested in these artifacts and craftworks,” Honjo said.

Nadurra Japan came about following a chance meeting between Chenti and Mizoochi. “I was working as a director at the historic Kobe Mosque, which endured an earthquake in 1995,” said Algeria-born Chenti. “I was also working on halal food projects, which is how I met Mizoochi.”

Chenti pointed out that Mizoochi was a big supporter of the Muslim community in Japan and began helping with halal food projects because there was a shortage at the time.

Mizoochi and his son decided to team up and moved to Dubai to work on several projects. “Mizoochi was very interested in Dubai specifically, and I was able to help with that. We had this amazing project in The Dubai Mall. It was really hard at first, but we finally did it,” Chenti added.

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