Back in the 1960’s, Roxy Furniture had established itself, in a relatively short time, as one of the island’s pioneers in bespoke furniture making. Today, the company has evolved immensely as a new family generation took over, transforming the company into R Living: The Place To Be for comfortable, elegant and quick-to-install flooring.
Design & Build caught up with Stephen and Jürgen Mifsud, the brains behind this vital addition to Malta’s properties.
Whoever is familiar with the main street of Hamrun – traditionally known as Strada Rjali – today’s Triq San Guzepp – could not miss out on one of the most renowned furniture makers on the island. Whether it was a comfortable sofa for your living room or a bedroom for the family’s kids, Roxy Furniture was the place to go to.
The business had started in the 1960’s by Stephen and Jürgen Mifsud’s grandfather Anthony Mifsud, and after a couple of years Anthony’s eldest son Joseph took over the reins, alongside his younger siblings. In Joseph’s time, the company diversified more onto furnishings and supply to the upholstery industry.
Being Stephen And Jürgen’s father, Joseph in time handed his reins in turn to them, and the business once again evolved and transformed itself to cater for the needs of contemporary living across the decades. From a place from where to order a family dining room or a made to measure bedroom in the 1960’s, the business focused on – and flourished in interior carpeting, upholstery and sofas in the 70’s and 80’s, leading to the business moving to imported furniture at the start of the millennium, when Malta removed its protection tariffs for locally manufactured furniture while waiting on the doorstep of EU membership.
the business focused on – and flourished in interior carpeting, upholstery and sofas in the 70’s and 80’s
Fast forward a few more years and the Mifsuds’ business now has entered its latest trendy era – floors. Shedding off its 1960’s image while keeping to its roots, Roxy moved on to R Living. This was not only just a change in image of branding but also a tangible transformation as the company moved out of its old premises in Hamrun as the place had become too small for what Stephen and Jürgen Mifsud had in mind.
Today, R Living has a modern state-of-the-art showroom, right on the Mriehel Bypass, which can be described as a ‘Mecca’ for following modern floors. “It all started a few years ago when our business was fortunate enough to represent Quickstep – one of the most renowned international brands where it comes to wooden flooring,” Stephen Mifsud, one of R Living’s owners, recounted.
“Based in the UK, but of a Flemish origin, Quickstep managed to grow exponentially during the last 25 years, from the provision of very basic laminate flooring to vinyl, wooden and even outdoor flooring. Products like laminate and engineered wooden floors have become almost a need in today’s modern buildings and so we decided to concentrate all our efforts on this comfortable and slick product.”
With this clear objective of providing Maltese clients, the largest range of flooring products at an affordable price, R Living started importing all types of wooden floors and today has, by far, the widest range of such a product in all forms of types that exist.
Quickstep has become intertwined with R Living and today the Mriehel Bypass showroom serves as a showcase to the diverse, innovative and elegant wood flooring products it so proudly carries. “Coming from a background of customer services, also after completing my studies and work experience in the UK, I understood the sheer importance of making sure that whoever is interested in having this type of flooring in his home can first actually experience its feel, sound, and vibrations.
the Mriehel Bypass showroom serves as a showcase to the diverse, innovative and elegant wood flooring products it so proudly carries
“Following our move to a new showroom, which considerably increased our available space, we could also deliver on this aspect. This is why R Living today is akin to one big comfortable home where customers can experience and literally walk on different types of floors, installed with the latest Quickstep products,” Jürgen Mifsud said.
whoever is interested in having this type of flooring in his home can first actually experience its feel, sound, and vibrations – Jürgen Mifsud
“We understand that the experience of choosing one’s floor should be similar to buying a jacket. You normally try it on to see how it fits before buying it. The same concept is being used for our floors,” Stephen Mifsud interjected. “In fact, he explains, architects and interior designers visit the Showroom with their clients, discussing around a table their new property’s interior design and which products and materials to use. It is now also becoming trendy to have wooded walls or even ceilings and our products are all there, already affixed to walls, ceilings, and floors in our showroom, so that clients can already feel, touch, and imagine how their newly refurbished living space is going to look.”
One of the main advantages of the Quickstep wooden flooring products is its ease to install. This is beneficial both for one-time customers who just want to use these products to refurbish their home, and just as importantly, for developers with large projects, where time is money.
While traditionally, Maltese floors were covered with tiles or flagstone, with all the implications of dust, cement, and weeks to get a project over and done with, parquet and wooden floorings is an altogether different experience. “Time is also an important consideration related to our products,” Stephen Mifsud said.
R Living today is akin to one big comfortable home where customers can experience and literally walk on different types of floors, installed with the latest Quickstep products – Jürgen Mifsud
“Thanks to our products, we have managed to lessen significantly the time needed to complete and finish a floor. In some large projects, which before used to take months, if not more, to complete, Quickstep has managed to do the same thing, maybe even nicer, in just a matter of a days or even less. This is because our floors are very easy to install and practically everyone can install them without the need of our professional personnel,” he explained.
That said, and while they do offer simple supply as well, they have a team of professionals who have been with them for many years. “We take care from A to Z and clients don’t need to do anything themselves, apart from walking on their new floors. When we give a quote, we can also provide a design – and a date when a project will be ready,” he said.
In recent years, laminate flooring has become one of the main materials used in modern homes and apartments. The Quickstep technology has managed to develop the product into something which almost can’t be distinguished from real wood. More and more products were developed and today, apart from the various colours available, a client can also choose products of either a natural look and feel with further add-ons such as scratch and stain resistant. The technology of these products has advanced so much that R Living can also provide laminate flooring which is water resistant and which can be freely used in bathrooms and kitchens.
“Obviously, no outfit is complete without the right accessories, and this also applies to our laminate floors,” Jürgen Mifsud added. “To make it easier for our clients, we have everything one may needs From the right underlay to the last finishing touches, R Living is today positioned to guide our clients the whole way through so one can enjoy his home, carefree.”
Vinyl flooring is also becoming very popular with Maltese clients. Made from engineered resources, the product is very resistant – and water resistant, and offers quiet footstep noise, and a warm feel. The product’s thinness makes it also an excellent and fast choice for renovations, and the flooring is barely raised, “vinyl flooring is raised even less than all our other flooring, so in the case of renovations which suffer height limitations, vinyl flooring is a very simple solution. Also, our interior products are adaptable to modern technology such as underfloor heating systems. Our products offer very good insulation, and this can help such technologies to work even more efficiently, thus also reducing the consumption of energy,” Stephen Mifsud explained.
R Living‘s vast range of floorings also includes excellent solutions for outdoor installations, such as in gardens, pool areas, roof gardens, patios and terraces, passageways, and many other uses.”
Our products offer very good insulation … thus also reducing the consumption of energy – Stephen Mifsud
With more than 50 years of experience on its books, R Living has now positioned itself to offer the best customer experience with a very competitive pricing policy. Large project developers have become part and parcel of their most loyal customer base with returning satisfied contractors visiting the Mriehel showroom very frequently.
Fully stocked and well supplied, easy and flexible solutions and a customer-focused service, have made R Living a one-stop-shop for all wooden and wood-finished flooring possibilities.
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