Luccas Oliveira and Abbas Ritscher, co-founders of The Design Oasis in Davie, FL, both have a background in lighting design. As such, they became aware of a distinct market need – for 24/7 rental service and support. They embraced that “client-centric” vision from the start.
“At the time, we saw how much local production companies struggled to get good service on weekends, evenings and even during lunchtime,” recalls Oliveira. “Most rental houses wouldn’t even pick up the phone on weekends, let alone replace malfunctioning gear. So that’s when a light bulb went off – we thought that if we started a rental house that not only would be open and accessible 24/7, but would also deliver 24/7 with no extra charge on weekends or nights, we would be providing a service that production companies desperately needed, but were not getting.”
Within the past two years, The Design Oasis has more than doubled in size and now employs a fulltime staff of 15. Its sales have increased at a phenomenal rate as well – more than 100 percent annually. The company is being increasingly relied on as a one-stop source for lighting, video and audio gear by designers for major artists, venues and events, from Julio Iglesias to Sea World, the Bonnaroo music festival and more.
Gear Breadth and Depth
Along with round-the-clock support, the company aspires to offer clients a full complement of top name brand products in all categories. Their rental stock includes moving lights from Martin, GLP, Elation and Chauvet Professional. For video support, along with 5mm and 12mm video wall panels from Chauvet, The Design Oasis offers Barco 20K Flex projectors. For control, there are grandMA2 full-size and light consoles and Vista Spyder X20 video processing. The company offers trussing, staging components and audio gear as well.
Along with a variety of rental products, The Design Oasis makes a point of maintaining a deep-enough inventory to meet the on-the-spot needs of its clients. Their recent purchase of Chauvet’s COLORado 1-Quad Tour and COLORado 1-Quad IP LED wash lights is a case in point – that order included more than 200 units.
Carrying such a large inventory can be something of a gamble, especially for a young company. But it’s one that has paid off. “Clients know they can call us and we’ll have what they’re looking for in stock and ready to deliver,” notes Ritscher. “This has earned us a reputation as a ‘go-to’ firm and has resulted in a lot of referral business. Take the recent Steve Angello concert, where we used 200 of the 12mm MVP panels. It made us very proud to have that quality and quantity of video panels in our stock after less than five years in business.”
“We also want to be sure to have reliable products with the latest features, so we do our best to refresh our gear every two years,” added Oliveira. “Most of the gear in our rental stock is two years old or less.”
The Design Oasis has also invested heavily in its delivery fleet. The company recently purchased three new box trucks, doubling the size of its fleet to six vehicles.
South Florida and Beyond
The fleet additions were made to gear up for a major company milestone: the opening of a new office for The Design Oasis in Orlando this year. Oliveira and Ritscher say this will be followed by expansion into other major cities across the U.S.
“We started out serving South Florida, but have increasingly been operating out of state,” said Ritscher. “This has shown us that there’s a real demand for the service we provide, so expanding nationally makes sense for us.”
Going out of its way to serve customer needs is fueling that vision of growth, Oliveira adds. “We truly are 24/7, and we really do care about our clients. Not only will we offer a client a refund if something doesn’t work, but we feel it’s our duty to provide them with a replacement immediately, even if we have to pay for overnight shipping. Abbas and I have even driven the truck ourselves in the middle of the night to replace a piece of equipment.”
When hiring, the company looks, first and foremost, for people who share this all-out commitment. As Daniele Alfonso, director of sales sums it up, the company has built its success on “service, competitive pricing, and a friendly office that really enjoys their clients.
“We might not be the easiest company to work for, but I think we are a very rewarding one,” Alfonso adds.
Hard work and dedication bring more than intangible rewards at The Design Oasis. After one year of fulltime employment, a staff member is offered a company BMW or a “decent size raise, and they grow with the company,” says Oliveira. “I think that’s another reason why our people won’t complain about picking merchandise at 2 a.m. on a Sunday!”
