During a visit to Spain, my husband's homeland, in 2007, I came across "wall art" in the form of a beautiful flower in the shop window of a trendy interior decor boutique in Barcelona. It was love at first sight.
On closer inspection I realised these were actually wall stickers made from a very thin vinyl material. I've always had a passion for interior decoration, and seeing such an incredibly simple but beautiful way to fill a blank space got me thinking about that "brand" I'd always wanted to create.
I've been in Dubai for 13 years and at the time I was working for Emaar, but was frustrated with working for such a large firm and longed to do something creative. Wall Cravings was the perfect opportunity.
A year later, while pregnant with my first son, I was looking for a fun way to decorate the nursery. After searching high and low for some custom-made, quality wall stickers, I realised that there was nothing on the market. I decided to find a way to create my own - and perhaps do the same for other people.
I did a lot of research into the different types of wall stickers out there, and discovered that the quality was poor and the variety was very limited.
I approached a talented graphic designer friend and asked her to help out on the first collection of designs. Wall Cravings was born and our slogan became Wall Cravings - Designs That Stick.
Nearly a year later, in 2009, Wall Cravings was launched as an online store. We started with 50 designs and now we've lost count.
We wanted to offer something to people of all tastes and cultures, so we came up with several categories and collections, such as floral and nature, quotes, Arabic calligraphy and so on.
We also offer a custom-made design and installation service, so anyone can have their own unique and personalised design, in any size or colour. We have also taken on a lot of commercial jobs such as hotels, offices and salons, as well as schools and vehicle graphics. We now have several design contributors from various parts of the world.
People were hesitant to buy online initially, but over the past year and a half that side of things has become very busy.
Birds and trees are popular, while the Arabic calligraphy designs are our bestsellers.
We are currently expanding our collection to include digitally printed wall murals and wall paper, so basically you can have an image of a forest or a waterfall in your living room.
We are looking to expand further into the Middle East and GCC, plus we are planning to stock more Wall Cravings stickers in cities and stores throughout the UAE.
Wall Cravings products can be purchased online at www.wallcravings.com. Stockists include Danube Buildmart in Ibn Battuta and Milk & Honey on Palm Jumeirah. For more information call 055 364 6084 or visit the Wall Cravings page on Facebook