Interview With Rahul Soni & Ameya Kankonkar, Directors Of Surreal Global

Spaces aren’t just built anymore, they’re experienced. As cities grow denser and people’s expectations rise, the role of design is shifting from creating functional environments to shaping meaningful, memorable ones. Today, integrated experience design brings together narrative, aesthetics, interaction, and operations to ensure a space not only looks good, but feels intuitive and engaging.

Rahul and Ameya from Surreal Global explore this transition through the lens of an experiential design practice working across commercial, retail, and outdoor environments. From festive transformations to large-scale thematic installations, Surreal Global helps brands and places create moments that draw people in, encourage participation, and turn everyday settings into shared experiences— designed for attention, emotion, and impact.

1. Surreal Design Studio rebranded to Surreal Global in 2025. At what point does growth become about clarity of direction and how did this define the rebrand of the organization?

A positive trajectory is not just about doing more, but defining who you are. For us, this moment arrived when we were no longer limited by geography and discipline, which meant our identity no longer resonated with our previous ethos. The transition from Surreal Design Studio to Surreal Global marked a clear milestone for us. With our new office opening in the Middle-East and growing footprint globally, the rebrand couldn't have come at a better time. It also unifies our more integrated, end-to-end approach, with in-house production and execution. The rebrand wasn’t about reinvention, but alignment, reflecting on both our expanded capabilities and ambition to operate as a global multidisciplinary practice.

2. Your work often moves beyond aesthetics into experience-led spatial storytelling. How does Surreal Global approach designing spaces that evoke emotion and a sense of belonging?

For us, great design is about connection. We focus on layering culture and storytelling in ways that feel natural and immersive. Whether it’s a commercial, public, or experiential space, we want people to feel welcomed and recognized. By grounding global ideas in local context and human behavior, environments are created that feel alive and engaging. Ultimately, it’s not just about moving through a space but connecting with it, experiencing it, and wanting to come back.

3. Surreal Global operates across geographies and sectors. How do you balance global design sensibilities with local cultural, social, and functional contexts?

Design is like language. The rules may be universal, but meaning only comes through when you speak in the language of the local context. A space designed without cultural context won’t truly connect with the people using it. We believe a strong global point of view creates clarity, but it’s the local touch that gives a space its soul. By closely studying the regional fabric, we get to understand how shared global moments are uniquely perceived across communities. At the same time, the location’s current identity and self-positioning inform how progressive and future-facing the design can be. These details shape spaces that feel intuitive, grounded, and form an instant connection.

4. Technology plays a strong role in your design process—from digital workflows to immersive visualization. How is technology reshaping the way spaces are conceptualized and delivered at Surreal Global?

Technology today shapes not only how design is generated, but it is first imagined. Evolving in real time is crucial, not just to keep pace with a rapidly changing cultural and urban landscape, but to stay ahead of it. By incorporating digital tools and immersive visualization into our everyday practice, we’re able to translate ideas more effectively and respond intuitively to context, scale, and use. This allows us to create experiences that are contemporary, adaptable and rapidly evolving.

5. In environments shaped by commercial pressure and operational constraints, how do you ensure the end-user experience isn’t diluted or sidelined?

Over the years, aspirations have definitely evolved. Consumers and clients want more than a space that looks good. It’s about creating places people actually want to walk into and revisit which supports the client’s bottom line. When the end-user experience is strong, it naturally translates into value for the business. Outcomes like brand recall, engagement, and ROI become reflections of genuine connection, not just targets. Operational constraints are part of the process and often unpredictable. Every project brings something new. What helps is a skilled team that’s used to adapting, problem-solving, and evolving alongside those challenges without losing sight of what we are creating for them. It’s the intentful approach that balances both ends, human needs with business goals, that leaves a lasting impression overall.

6. Your leadership team often speaks about reimagining traditionally functional spaces, such as airports and retail spaces. What shifts do you see in how people relate to these spaces today?

Airports are such interesting spaces because people are there with time on their hands, but they’re often disconnected from everything beyond. When we talk about re-defining this space, the goal is never just to place something that generates revenue for the airport or is contextual decor but creating moments that passengers actually carry with them. A recently executed project showed us how Christmas festivity can be part of the journey. It transformed an otherwise static area into experiences that entertained, sparked curiosity, and made the wait feel shorter. At the same time, we created real commercial opportunities, giving retail establishments and the airport more value.

We’re very intentional about setting a strong visual and experiential standard that immediately elevates the environment and changes people’s perception of it being not just as a transit zone, but a connection to the world outside, while being away from it.

7. As Surreal Global continues to grow, what is your long-term vision for the brand, and how do you see it influencing the future of global spatial design?

The belief in leading by definition, not imitation, has shaped our journey to where we are today. This naturally pushed us into new verticals, larger scales, and more global conversations. As we continue to expand into new verticals and grow our global footprint, the excitement lies in exploring unfamiliar territories like new markets, formats and new experiences. The future also holds deeper integration of technology, not as a feature, but as a natural extension of the design language. Technology opens up possibilities to create more immersive and layered outputs blurring the line between physical and digital.

Through it all, we remain close to our process because that’s what keeps the work honest, original, and unmistakably ours and authentically Surreal.