We are living in a time of grey.
Grey sofas. Grey walls. Grey kitchens with grey islands and grey stools, photographed in grey light, posted to a grey feed, liked by people sitting on their own grey sofas.
Somewhere along the way, "neutral" became a personality. Somewhere along the way, beige, greige, taupe and a paint color that is actually called "Agreeable Grey" became the international language of good taste. Agreeable. Think about that word. Nobody ever fell in love with agreeable.
Here is what they do not tell you about the most beautiful hotels in the world. Behind the calm lobby and the quiet corridors, there is color everywhere. The saffron in the kitchen. The emerald of a cocktail at the bar. The deep oxblood of a leather valet tray on the nightstand. The flash of orange silk on a pillow you did not notice until you sat down and suddenly did not want to leave. Great hotels are not neutral. They are edited. There is a difference.
We spent over 30 years inside these hotels. Our story began in 1992 on a bicycle in Mumbai, delivering hand-made table mats and custom menus to local restaurants. We carried that with us to Dubai, a city built by people who looked at an empty desert and decided it needed the tallest building in the world. There is no such thing as a beige Dubai. The city taught us that color is not decoration. Color is information. It tells you where the good food is, who is celebrating, which door to walk through. Dubai does not do subtle. It does excellent, loudly. That is the standard we grew up with, and it is the standard we design to.
Today, 800 properties later, our pieces sit in Four Seasons, Corinthia, Auberge, Kempinski, Fairmont, Raffles and IHG hotels and yachts across 50 countries. Everything is designed in our own studio and made in our own workshops, by hand, by people who have been doing it longer than most design trends have been alive. Hotels trust us with the details because the details are where a guest decides whether a place is truly luxurious or merely expensive.
Color is why Rikan Homes exists. If the finest hotels in the world buy our products, why should you not be able to take a piece of your favorite hotel home with you?
Color is why our leather comes in purple, in orange, in red, in shades that make people ask where you got it. We are not afraid of color because we have watched it work in the most demanding rooms on earth for three decades. We know exactly how it wears, how it ages, how it catches the morning light.
Color is why we do not make ten thousand things in fifty finishes. The internet is a wonderful place to find everything and a terrible place to decide anything. We make fewer pieces and we make them with an opinion.
Color is why every piece is handmade. A machine can make something consistent. Only a hand can make something that feels like it was meant for you.
We are often told that color is a risk. That it is easier to sell beige. That the safe choice is the smart choice.
We disagree.
Luxury is not a shade. Luxury is a decision. The decision to have an opinion about your own home. The decision to own something a guest picks up, turns over and asks about. The decision to live somewhere that could not be anywhere else.
Our products have spent thirty years making other people's hotels unforgettable. It is time they did the same for your home.
The world is not beige. Your home should not be either. Welcome to Rikan.
From Dubai, with love,
Faris Khimani & Daniel Veller