The search for quality: RAK

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Hotelier Middle East talks to RAK Porcelain general manager Reenu Ommen about teaming up with top international designers to satisfy the demanding requirements of Middle East hoteliers.

Bigger, brighter and better is the mantra of the Middle East hotel industry, and from the outset RAK Porcelain has been intent on producing the best.

The youngest offspring of the RAK Ceramics Group, set up in 1991, RAK Porcelain (RAK) began producing tableware for the hotel industry just two years ago in 2006, but the firm is already the favoured supplier of plates, buffetware and accessories to a string of five-star hotels.

"We have provided porcelain for, amongst others, the Burj Al Arab, the Marriott Group, InterContinental Hotels Group, Hyatt, Hilton, Shangri-La and Radisson," explains the firm's general manager Reenu Ommen.

Of course properties like the Burj Al Arab demand something more than the standard design, so RAK provided it with something all of its own.

"We created a whole new range for the Burj Al Arab, with a newly designed shape."

"Normally for hotels like the Burj Al Arab they want a totally new series, and we can produce that for them," says Ommen.

"Our most recent achievement is Atlantis [The Palm Dubai]."

"For that property we used an existing shape, but the whole design was done according the ambience of that particular hotel."

"We worked from a design requested by them."

Ommen adds that this bespoke service can be provided to all hotels, with porcelain being created to suit the overall design of the property.

"We can send our designers to meet with the hotel, and they will look at the design of the property, speak with the hotel about what they require and we will design and produce it accordingly," he says.


But just because RAK it provides a bespoke service doesn't mean that its standard porcelain ranges are of lower quality.

The firm works with a number of international designers to ensure that their products are all unique.

"For the different shapes we have three international designers."

"There's Alain Vavro from France, who has designed our All Spice series, Mikabla Gorfel from Germany, and now we have Robin Levien, a UK designer who is designing a new range for us at the moment," says Ommen.

Gorfel has designed RAK's Lyra and Maza ranges for them, whilst Vavro is responsible for the All Spice, Fine Dine and SKA ranges, with the Creativa design company from Italy designing RAK's Pixel range.

"We continuously update our series' and in 2008 we will be launching the extension of the All Spice series and then a new series is coming called Tang, and another called Classic, then Maza and Trilogy."

"So we'll be launching five new series in 2008," says Ommen.

As well as its solo ventures RAK has joined up with the French Ecotel group to create Restofair, which provides "complete hotel solutions" specifically to the UAE market, according to Ommen.

"Restofair provides cutlery, glass, linen, kitchen equipment and anything else you need for a hotel," he adds.

RAK Ceramics

RAK Porcelain's parent company RAK Ceramics - winner of the Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award for industry 2005 and the Arabian Business Achievement Awards' company of the year 2004 - is the largest producer of ceramic and porcelain tiles in the world and a market leader in sanitaryware production.

RAK Ceramics boasts the UK's Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (LLB) amongst its sanitaryware designers.

The firm's plant in Ras Al Khaimah produces approximately 200,000 square metres of tiles and more than 7000 pieces of sanitaryware per day.

Ommen adds that RAK Ceramics recently partnered with German firm Kludi to create Kludi RAK, a manufacturer of bathroom and kitchen fittings.

"Kludi RAK started just four months back and we are producing around one millions pieces now," he says.

Visit: www.rakceramics.com

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