Floral arrangements and decorations can brighten up even the dullest spaces. With the harmony and perfection they bring, they add instant beauty to any space in your home.
Fresh flowers provide an ambience that helps the person be one with nature, but in this modern world maintaining that fresh beauty daily is an extra chore. That’s why companies have sprung up that specialize in arranging flowers in a style and design that is young, modern, trendy and is in sync with the home.
Although flowers are naturally beautiful, it is the artistic arrangement and the harmony of floral colors that enhances their beauty. It is here that the role of artificial flowers comes in. Some people don’t like real flowers or might find it a hassle to take care of them. So, they prefer to arrange silk flowers or any other type of artificial flowers in their rooms to enhance the beauty of their rooms. At the same time, artificial flowers live forever.
Nada Engawi started an at home business of arranging silk flowers in differently shaped vases and home accessories for all occasions. The idea of going into the business of floral arrangements came to Nada when she had her first child Mariam.
Many people asked her about the decorations she had in her room at the hospital. “When family and friends visited me at the hospital, they asked about the flowers and the bouquets in my room which I had arranged myself. They kept on asking me for advice on color combinations, different decoration styles and so forth,” she said.
“It got me thinking — why not start a small business that could help and assist people with these things at a fair price? Plus, I love flowers,” Nada told Arab News.
Along with the support of her husband Yousef Raffa, the brand NYM was born. NYM is an acronym for Nada, Yousef (her husband) and Mariam (her little daughter). “In addition to that, it is a name of a well-known tree (the neem) here in Saudi Arabia,” Nada added.
Artificial flowers can brighten any space with a splash of color without the need to water and care for them. Nada believes that it is unfortunate that real flowers wither away after a while.
“Every time I visit a friend in a hospital or go to a wedding, I see that they use natural and real flowers but they always complain that after a brief period that the flowers just die,” she added.
“I found this a great opportunity to introduce everyone to the beauty of silk flowers and stress the fact that they will last for ever,” Nada said.
“I also found out that most of the shops here don’t have any special decorations or unique items. Not only that, they aren’t cheap either. Therefore, I focused on using these two major factors to assist all my customers — unique designs and at very appealing prices,” Nada said.
Nada uses all shapes and colors of silk flowers. She buys the material locally in Jeddah. “Mostly I get the materials I use for the floral arrangements from different places and shops in Jeddah such as Faiyfa, Roses Palace and many more. I make sure the flowers I select are firm, look gorgeous and the material it is made of will look good for a very long time. In addition to that, I have plans to get things from outside the Kingdom as well,” she added.
“As far as other items, I make use of exhibitions and other occasions like bazaars to get special things from Villeroy & Boch (a German company famous worldwide for innovative designs of coordinated tableware, glassware, cutlery, and home accessories), but if the order were simple or just modern, I get the stuff from Al-Sawani,” Nada said.
Gifts for all occasions
NYM offers great gifts for all occasions, decorations for your delivery rooms and weddings. Nada believes that what is different about NYM is the unique style and great designs.
“I would love to expand my business in the future. Now I do everything on my own. I am on the lookout for people who can assist me. But they should be able to help me sustain the quality of my work. Otherwise, I will have to shelve the idea of expansion,” Nada said. Yousef and Nada, apart from having an interest in this business, are also very interested in photography. Along with NYM, they have established their own photography company, PHOTON. They have also started the first and only Arabic podcast on photography.
