05 — Our family
It started with one woman and a room that needed something.
Laya · Roqia · Ali — Mount Roskill, Auckland
05.1 — In their words
Decoration X is family-owned and operated, based in Mount Roskill in Auckland.
It was founded by Laya Rasooli, its managing director, and is run with her brother Ali and with help from their mother, Roqia — a single mother and former refugee from Afghanistan.
Laya turned a talent for making rooms feel like occasions into a business that values family, community and the magic of celebrations.
Laya and Ali both study architecture at AUT, which is why the drapes hang straight and the arches actually stand up.
Because it is the three of us, you get the same people at the planning, the install and the pack-down.
That is the whole offer, and it is why people call us back.
05.2 — The three of us
The three of us
05.3 — Two answers
Two of the questions people ask us
Who actually turns up on the day?
The three of us. Roqia, Ali and Laya do the planning, the install and the pack-down — the people you talk to are the people who build it and the people who strike it.
Can you work with our culture's traditions?
Yes, and we take the details seriously. We do Eid and Umrah Mubarak boards, mehndi draping, marigold and sequin backdrops, and we work across Auckland's communities regularly. Roqia came here as a refugee from Afghanistan, so a family wanting their own traditions done properly rather than approximated is something this studio understands from the inside.
05.4 — The rooms
Rooms the family have built
128CeremonyAuckland 
109StageAuckland 
186CulturalAuckland 
091StageAuckland