For Homes, For Lives
D’Décor Exports is India’s premium home furnishings and accessories brand and the world’s largest producers of woven upholstery and curtain fabrics. The brand has been making strong strides in the market for nearly two decades and has attained exponential growth as well. With a loyal customer base, the seventeen-year-old homegrown brand exports home fabrics to 65 countries worldwide.
Ina Arora is the wife of Sanjay Arora, founder and Managing Director of D’Décor Exports and her career in product and design and development has spanned over 14 years. She is responsible for creating product lines that are relevant to emerging and changing lifestyles, strategically expanding the volume of D’Decor branded home products across categories through the development process.
Responsible for creating stunning product lines at D’Decor Exports, and influencing the evolving lifestyles of the ‘globally local’ citizens of the world is Ina Arora.
As an enthusiastic traveller, a self-proclaimed foodie and a die-hard art connoisseur, Ms. Ina swears by a good fitness regime and holds close to her heart the time that she gets to spend with her family and close friends.
At the top of her game helming the product development division at D’Decor, Ms. Ina realises that the customers, both current and new ones, look up to her to lead by example. Especially so because she is responsible for the development and execution of the production strategy.
She says: “Our credo – Live Beautiful – is something that we live and breathe at all times. It is our endeavour to beautify not just homes but lives too.” And that is in perfect sync with her vision for the company which is to become ‘a one-stop solution for all home designs and home makers’.
Even when she was a full-time mom to her two growing daughters, designs, colours, concepts and ideas were something that were always tumbling around in her heart and mind.
She agrees: “I love working with fabric because I believe that it has a lot of ‘give’ meaning it is in the very nature of fabric to transform any space. One can play around with a bouquet of motifs, colour palettes, weaves and textures – and all this gets more exciting when one is working with global trends and enriching seasonal launches with unique ideas.”
What has helped evolve D’Decor from being a vision in 1999 to its current standing as the ‘world’s largest maker of soft furnishing fabrics’ is the synergy and the team work.
Ms. Ina shares: “Today we are the largest manufacturers of curtain and upholstery fabrics in the world. We started our first embroidery machine in 2001 and touched the milestone of the 200th machine in 2013. We launched blinds as a product offering in 2015. Around the same time, we introduced high-end beddings in plain and embroidery options. Only last year we brought out our latest range of a wide variety of rugs. All this has been possible because we believe in free expression of creative minds. Our team knows that we want to hear their minds that are teeming with ideas.”
The entire team has always come up with out-of-the-box ideas and, in turn, Ms. Ina has always encouraged them. And that is why D’Decor is a popular name in every home – be it in India or abroad.
Talented team D’Decor
D’Decor commands a loyal customer base across 65 countries around the world catering to their unique tastes. Its factories manufacture over 120,000 sq. mts. of fabric a day globally. As a matter of pride, the company has about 30 per cent women employees in supervisory roles. Another 10 per cent is employed in administrative support roles.
Ms. Ina believes in equal opportunities to all genders. According to her, this is akin to the ‘fertile soil’ which can nurture growth to enable achieving milestones. She adds: “As a woman professional, I seek safety for women at work place. And that is why we have introduced a Sexual Harassment Committee as per the Criminal Law Act Section 354 A. Working in a stress-free atmosphere helps women professionals explore and achieve their calibre. And, as a mother, I encourage our women employees to keep a good balance between their motherly responsibilities and their work. At D’Decor, we give maternity benefits to our lady professionals, and beyond six months, they get full week-ends to spend time with their babies till they reach three years of age.”
Ms. Ina also insists on conducting regular training sessions for the employees, especially the women professionals, for their self-development and to keep them motivated.
In alignment with the futuristic trends
D’Decor is entering new product categories such as blinds, rugs and bedding by offering innovation and customization as key solutions. In the context, Ms. Ina points to the successful long-term partnership: “Our 15-year partnership with European Studios and our investment in original artwork have proved to be the backbone of our strong product development team. We move with time and have always believed in introducing contemporary styles every year. And that is possible only with our steady effort, work and our willingness to explore new substrates, weaves and finishes.”
Today, D’Decor has trained its eye on acquiring latest technology that will help it manufacture cutting-edge fabric because delivering value for money is what the company believes in.
Global high praise
Aiming high with feet planted firmly on the ground, D’Decor is making its presence felt in a big way globally. Recently, the brand has been crowned as the ‘World’s Largest Manufacturer of Curtain and Upholstery Fabrics’ by F&F International. The brand has also won three Gold and two Silver rankings at the Export Awards by the Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council. Then another high praise came in the form of being chosen by leading architects and designers as the top brand at the Expert Choice in Furnishings category.
D’Decor has the world for its taking. Under Ms. Ina’s creative guidance, the brand is taking relentless strides in becoming the drapers of the window in the skies.
By Sarada Vishnubhatla