Meet Shaiyan Billah and Mohsin Farooqui of Salaam Gallery

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shaiyan Billah and Mohsin Farooqui of Salaam Gallery.

Please kick things off for us with some background on the story.
Salaam Gallery was started by three college friends (Mohsin, Shaiyan, and Zaheer) who wanted to bring the beauty of rich Islamic influenced art to the world. The three of us have been close friends since college and as young professionals moving out of our homes and onto the next stage of our lives, we wanted to build something of our own together. We all shared a passion for our heritage and the beauty of the Arabic language. Moreover, we wanted to find a way to incorporate this into the business in our own creative way.

After a lot of thinking and researching ideas, we landed on Islamic wall art as the focus of our project. We found our niche in Islamic wall art decor, which traditionally has been dominated by woodworked crafts, antique paintings, and simple tabletop decorations. What we noticed was that these options did not have that “wow” factor and often did not evoke strong emotional connections to the ethos of the Islamic tradition.

The quality of the existing options we could find and share with the community did not exude the sense of pride and meaningfulness that the Arabic language so powerfully conveys. Fast forward to today and we have expanded our collection to 100+ unique wall art, jewelry, and canvas items. During COVID-19, we’ve accelerated our online presence through our social media marketing strategy, something we did not originally conceive as possible in our particular niche. We pride ourselves on the quality of our products and the level of customer service we provide. The most fulfilling part of Salaam Gallery is knowing that the beauty and appreciation for Islam and the Arabic language is shared with our customers, and we appreciate each and every one of them likewise because we would not be here today without them!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We’ve certainly had our fair share of growing pains since we launched. Since this was the first time any of us have run a retail business, we had many steep learning curves to overcome. In fact, we had to learn how to do everything from purchasing to marketing to sales to customer service on the fly, but no matter what decisions we took, we made sure to learn from our mistakes. We really saw this as our chance to grow individually as well while growing the business. Sometimes when we look back at these moments, we really appreciate how far we have come ourselves from where we started. We always knew in our minds that we could get to where we are today with persistence, patience, and commitment.

As you know, we’re big fans of Salaam Gallery. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are Southern California’s premier Islamic Wall Art retailer. We specialize in stainless steel products from wall art to elegant jewelry. We have also expanded our collection to canvas wall art and all of our products are centered around the mission of our organization: “Greet your guests with Beauty”. All of Salaam Gallery’s products are meticulously crafted, inspected, and delivered to our customers around the world. What really sets us apart from others is our unique product line up, competitive pricing, and our passion to satisfy our customers. Our brand is gaining recognition and reputation as the place to go to for products that will blow you away thanks to our amazing customer base. If you want to know more about Salaam Gallery and how awesome our products are, the best way to find out is to buy them!

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
The people in our lives are the most meaningful to us. This includes our customers, without whom we would not be here today. We understand that each Salaam Gallery item goes into someone’s home or is a gift and is part of the story of their lives in some way or another. This drives us to ensure that everything we make and sell with the Salaam Gallery has the backing and confidence of our utmost quality. And this is why any time our customers see one of our products in a booth or online, they immediately connect to it and are impressed with it. We really mean it when we say we want to bring the beauty of the Arabic language into people’s homes and we are proud to say that Salaam Gallery has successfully done that.

Pricing:

• Stainless steel wall art – $79.99 to $799.99 FREE SHIPPING in the US
• Elegant Jewelry – $14.99 to 89.99 FREE SHIPPING in the US
• Canvas wall art – $39.99 to $169.99 FREE SHIPPING in the US
• Apparel – $21.00 to $59.99 FREE SHIPPING in the US

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.salaam.gallery
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salaam.gallery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salaam.gallery/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/Salaamgallery