Robert Soussana

“Being creative is my life calling,” remarks Furniture Design Director Robert Soussana.

With over 27 years of furniture industry experience, Robert brings his passion for interior design and architecture to Align. Since joining the company in 2020, Robert has been leading the design, direction and merchandising for the home furnishing items which are sold by Align under the Belleze and Novattic brands.

Robert grew up in a creative home with Moroccan parents who were “constantly recreating the space we lived in,” he says. “This was a foundation that supports how I look at the built environment today: it’s about details and subtlety, creating beauty from my rich background, and having a clean idea of what works and what won’t.”

A typical work day for Robert involves sketching furniture through computer-aided designs (CADs) and renderings, communicating with overseas offices, collaborating with designers and merchandisers and reviewing price points for furniture products.

“My career path has truly been an experience of a lifetime, from global travel to creating amazing designs for the most influential brands in the marketplace,” says Robert. “I feel like I’ve never worked a day in my life because I love what I do and see it as a complete creative outlet.”

Furniture design is Robert’s true passion. And in addition to designing amazing products for various lifestyle brands, he aims to regularly sharpen his skill sets to ensure that he is always developing beautiful interior spaces. His time at Align has helped Robert learn more about the business of e-commerce.

“This past year, I’ve learned so much about the marketing side of an e-commerce brand,” Robert explains. “Align gave me an opportunity to see how an e-commerce home furnishings importer works. I’m fascinated by e-commerce as a business model. It’s completely different from brick and mortar. With brick and mortar, your marketing budget goes towards retail space, advertising, retail employees, product representatives and showrooms. With e-commerce, the marketing is completely different. The focus is on the brand identity, website, influencers, video and photography.”

A passion project for Robert has been the creation of the Novattic furniture brand, which will launch in 2022. Novattic furniture fuses diverse design concepts into one gorgeous brand which provides many stylish pieces at a great perceived value. Robert describes the aesthetic as a “balance in symmetry and proportions.”

Novattic designs with the customer in mind, focusing equally on attractiveness, quality and value. Robert hopes that the trends which inspire Novattic can “emerge and change with time,” thus preserving the essence of the brand.

A true creator at heart, Robert has embraced the opportunity to develop a diverse range of products for Align which are beautifying homes around the world. “I love that the product line covers low- to high-end home furnishings. We’re able to create and design for all.”