Artistry in Every Detail

In business, as in architecture, the strength of a structure depends not on the size of its foundation but on the quality of each element. When an entrepreneur transfers twenty years of experience creating premium spaces from Russia to Dubai, he encounters a paradox: a city of luxury craves genuine quality. The story of Dmitry Grachev and his furniture company Atis&Alterna Group, demonstrates how professionalism establishes new standards in the marketplace.

My company's story began in the 2000s with trading European fittings and other materials. Almost immediately, I was struck by how primitively furniture makers used first-rate materials. After constant complaints from acquaintances about quality from various manufacturers, I began producing furniture myself. The turning point came when a friend asked me to fit out his shop. I didn't yet know how to approach a commercial project but ultimately delivered splendidly. After that, orders came flooding in: first Guess and Strellson, then Armani, Versace, Red Valentino, Philip Plein, Billionaire, the jewellery house Chaumet, the Davidoff cigar club, and Radisson Collection and Hyatt hotels.

Over twenty years I installed more than 300 shops from St Petersburg to Yakutsk, where containers waited for weeks until the rivers froze over. And across many cities and countries of the former USSR: Kyiv, Baku, Almaty.

In 2023 I moved to Dubai and merged with Atis. Today we have 5,000 square metres of production space in Dubai Investment Park, 170 employees, the latest German equipment, and twenty years' experience working with European architects who demanded the highest quality and timely project completion.

The main discovery in Dubai concerned not only personnel, though finding masters of a high calibre proved harder than in Russia. I was surprised by the absence of many familiar materials and tools. Festool, which manufactures the finest hand tools, has no representation here. We buy through Italians without warranty. But where others see problems, we create solutions: casting door profiles for concealed doors in Europe, developing handsome air duct diffusers that surpass local alternatives, actively selling them to property developers and installing them on our own projects.

Most important was understanding the climate. Temperature fluctuations and humidity here are extreme. We developed a technology for producing doors and furniture using only moisture-resistant materials, covering them with quality lacquers, and now our products don't warp from climatic changes.

The landmark project in Dubai was the Nahate restaurant and Jacob & Co cigar lounge. We stepped in as rescuers after the first company failed on deadlines and quality. The work required constant modifications; we made mock-ups, proposed our own solutions and materials. We created compartments for handbags inside the armchairs, executed doors with imperceptible colour transitions. We created a truly worthy space. Competitors send messages: "This is genuinely well done." But naturally, the highest praise was hearing from Jacob Arabo that it turned out magnificent, and he  immediately discussed it with me and commissioned me to quote for the furniture for his Swiss office.

I recall the Au Pont Rouge department store in St Petersburg, created by London designer Christopher Jenner. A project with such complex curved surfaces that I had to buy 70,000 euros' worth of milling cutters alone. When the shop opened, six London buyers stood along the central walkway and applauded me. To my modest response that they had their own Harrods, they said: "Harrods doesn't compare in complexity."
In Dubai we've begun working with Emiratis who've learnt to value quality. They understand: villas for rental with good finishing let better and longer. Interestingly, locals prefer contemporary furniture, know European manufacturers, follow trends. Gone are the days when showing status from the outside mattered alone.
The company's philosophy is simple: deadlines and quality. Twenty years working with shops and restaurants taught me: timely opening and quality are always verified by Western architects; you pay penalties for delays and rework. Good furniture should give the client pleasure daily. When a company has its own fit-out capacity, it closes the project with the final door, whether furniture or entrance. We don't drag the client into disputes between builders and furniture makers; we resolve all matters internally.

The Dubai market is my element. I see how many excellent projects have shortcomings in development or quality. A designer draws something beautiful, but the execution proves primitive. I understand this market is extremely interesting for our company. Up to fifty new restaurants may open here in a month; there's plenty of work.

And naturally, I have a rule in work: never despair and push forward. In judging people, I follow a principle: what matters isn't how someone fell into a puddle but how they emerged clean from the muck. Everyone has the right to make mistakes. If someone did something wrong but corrected it elegantly, they earn more respect.

This market is changing rapidly. Many competitors appear from Instagram without a real foundation. Clients get burnt and return to professionals. For us this is even an advantage, as there's something to compare against. We don't chase volume; we choose projects that are professionally interesting. Each completed project becomes our calling card. And in closing I'll add a phrase dear to me from Osip Mandelstam: "Beauty is not a demigod's whim but the keen eye of a simple carpenter."