Furniture solutions major Rehau is getting even more aggressive in the Indian market. The parent company plans to move India from number 3 to number 2 in its global pecking order. BuildingandInteriors met with Vincent Kummer, Head of Marketing Communication, Furniture Solutions at Rehau AG and Namit Lakhmani, Product Manager, Rehau India, at the recently concluded Interzum 2025 in Cologne. Read on to know what’s coming up from Rehau in the Indian market.
B&I: What’s new from Rehau at Interzum 2025?
Vincent Kummer
At Interzum 2025, what Rehau is showing are new products and solutions from different parts of our portfolio. Our motto this year is ‘Beauty For All shapes and Forms’. This translates into our endeavour to offer a product addressing the most current trends. These include rounded shapes and rounded forms, lending a more cozy feeling to the homes. This is what we are presenting in our surface solutions, roller shutters and edgebands.
Rehau is increasingly becoming a trend-setter in the surfaces segment. We have different materials that help designers bring their concepts together. Everything is more coordinated now, especially within the same colour scheme. You can pick a colour and a finish, like a concrete texture, which is a very interesting surface, and combine it with glass in the same shade. They can really unify the look, even adding roller shutters and edgebands in matching colours. The positive takeaway? It all comes from REHAU – a globally trusted brand known for quality.
And the response has been great – these Rehau products recently won a Red Dot Design Award, and we showcased them at Interzum Guangzhou 2025 just a few weeks ago, where they also picked up an award. So, we’re happy to see how the market has been reacting to these solutions.
Moving to the edgebands, these are an integral part of our interior solutions portfolio. We have a very interesting product called RAUKANTEX canvas – a digitally printed edgeband. It gives you unlimited design options when you choose your decor. So, it can be a bold decor in a different colour, or a wood decor, but it doesn’t have this 45-50 cm repetition that you usually see with traditional printing methods. It’s laterally printed. That gives it a continuous, endless appearance.
We also add a lacquer layer that creates a tangible texture on the surface, so if you’re working with a structured or wooden board, the texture, colour, and design can wrap right up the edge, creating a seamless 90-degree transition.
That connects to another product we’re showing here for the first time: RAUKANTEX pigmento. With this, we bring the look and feel of a wooden decor right into the bevel of the edgeband. It solves the issue of that typical frame look you often get because of the glue line or a break in the design. With RAUKANTEX pigmento wood, the decor continues into the bevel, especially when combined with our RAUKANTEX laser edgebands. It creates a really clean, seamless component. We’re presenting this for the first time, and it’s going to be launched in Q3 this year.
Additionally, while we do focus on industry partners, REHAU is also strongly committed to carpenters. It’s not just about offering great products, but also great service. We have over 200,000 different decors and colours in our warehouse, making us a perfect fit for carpenters. Plus, we have a strong network with big board manufacturers. The market demands edgebands that match the most current board designs, and we’re very fast at introducing these decors into our collection.
B&I: What are the focus products for Rehau in the Indian market over the next few years?
Namit Lakhmani
Organised international brands like Rehau work on a blend of international quality and local customisation and serviceability. This translates into a great customer experience. As Vincent said, edgebands continue to be our main product. We are doing a great deal of customisation, including adding new colours, finishes and sizes within this category. We have approximately 2000+ colours to cater to in the Indian market. Moreover, every month, we have 100-plus colours being developed.
Going forward, we are also doing a lot of development in the surfaces collection. We have recently launched some of them, including the Rauvisio Riviera acrylic laminates. We are also doing crystal laminates in the premium or ‘niche’ market in India. There are a few more products which are lined up to cater to the surface’s requirements in the Indian market.
B&I: Is there any other new product or category Rehau is thinking of developing either in India or globally?
Vincent Kummer
Though we launch products on a global level, we also think very locally. We look at the adoptability of our global solutions at the local market level. This varies from market to market and from product to product. As an innovation-led company, Rehau is always looking at newer ways to not only add new solutions to its portfolio but also the ways in which it can be uniquely useful for our designers and architectural communities worldwide. We are showcasing some solutions that have still not taken shape in the form of a product offering. Likewise, we are also looking into one or two different collections for other products. But it’s really important for us that we actually manufacture what the local market needs. This is the basic premise on which we work at Rehau.
Namit Lakhmani
There are quite a few products which are required by companies in the building materials space. We have the Rauvisio surfaces collection. These are solid surface solutions. The India offerings are a subset of a very large global portfolio of Rehau. So, global products with local requirements are something which Rehau maps very effectively. Apart from these, we have very small products, like the masking tapes, adhesives, roller shutters, etc. In India, we pick from the Rehau global portfolio based on our local demand. What the market gets is a truly international quality, but a range which is palatable to the local tastes.
B&I: Are you also affected by the BIS situation in India?
Namit Lakhmani
Yes, it was quite unexpected – both the timing and speed of it. But the good part is that it’s only one part of the Rehau India portfolio, i.e. the MDF boards which we import from Rehau Germany. The solution? We are looking at various options to get these boards made in India to the same Rehau global standards and quality for which our MDF boards are known. We will soon have the solution for this.
B&I: How does Rehau see the India market in its global portfolio?
Vincent Kummer
For us, India is super important in the order. This, as every big brand worldwide recognises today, is because India is a fast-growing market. For us at Rehau, in addition to the strong growth we see here, it’s been a very successful market. India is amongst the top 3 markets for Rehau Global. As a German company, the largest market is, of course, Europe. Globally, we are growing. As one of the few global players in the sector, we aim to expand our presence in India and potentially make it our second-biggest market in the near future. However, it is undeniably a huge opportunity. We do everything we can to cater to the India market.
B&I: Is Rehau looking at increasing its manufacturing capacities in India?
Vincent Kummer
We already have a local manufacturing facility for edgebands in India. The country being an important market for us, we keep monitoring any opportunity which may arise due to the changing supply-chain situations. We produce for local markets according to local requirements. As of now, we remain focused on increasing our business in India, and we open to all options which help us in meeting our objectives.
Namit Lakhmani
Like Vincent mentioned, we are catering to local demand via local manufacturing. In today’s competitive world, local demand merits quicker delivery schedules. With Rehau’s manufacturing facilities in India, we ensure that we are quick to react to customer demands. This is true for both the distribution side of our business as well as the OEM side. Our local manufacturing facilities also empower us to work at great speeds to develop and deliver new solutions as per the market requirements. And that’s what really sets Rehau apart from the other manufacturers in the furniture solutions space.
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