The last, expensive, word in bathrooms

The Life: A disreet retailer in Dubai offers whatever the richest may want - including a 24-carat gold bath tub.

A bathroom designed by Casamia. Courtesy Casamia

On the edge of the Dubai's Al Quoz industrial estate, there is an unremarkable, blacked-out shop front that displays a telephone number.

Q&A: Abdul Kader Mithani explains the reason for a secret store.

Why do have two stores and one by appointment only? If the customer enters the best store first, they will like everything and want to buy everything. But often they cannot afford it and so they go to the less expensive store and they are disappointed and do not want to buy anything from there. So I lose the customer in both stores.

How do people find out about the secret store? [The] concept of our store is mainly word of mouth. We also try to understand a customer's level of budget when they enter the other store. It is high end but it is not ultra high end.

What is the average spending? Dh20,000 [US$5,444] in the first store and Dh5 million in the ultra high-end store.

Which type of clients go to the high-end store? Most of the Royal Family have come here. We received clients from Cape Town, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Indian conglomerates, big Bollywood stars.

Royalty, industrial magnates, Bollywood stars and the super wealthy have all walked through the door to experience the magic inside. The shop is called Casamia and it sells bathrooms - ultra high-end bathrooms.

"We can customise anything for you," says Abdul Kader Mithani, the director at Casamia. "If you say you need diamonds, if you need gold, if you need a real skin from an animal, you can have it."

And he is not joking. The store is a trove of treats, with tiles made from alligator, snail or fish skins. There are basins that start producing water at a particular temperature as you walk into the bathroom.

There is a 24-carat gold bath tub for sale, as well as a gold-plated lavatory for about US$19,000 (Dh69,788), depending on the specifications. Visits to the store are by appointment only, with the clients for each visit having the store exclusively to themselves. Average purchases total Dh5 million, says Mr Mithani.

Round the corner on Sheikh Zayed Road, Casamia has another store open for the general public. The average spending there is a meagre Dh20,000 on a bathroom.

But the secret store offers so much more. A personal designer accompanies clients around the baths, toilets, fittings and high-tech extras that are available. As a client is selecting various bits, the designer will draw out the whole bathroom so that the customer can visualise its final appearance.

There is also a one-of-a-kind, self-cleaning jacuzzi that functions like a disco in your bathroom, with flashing coloured lights and a powerful sound system. For women applying make-up, there is a mirror that will show the words "you are beautiful". And stumbling around in the dark will be a problem of the past as the store sells a lavatory that glows when you approach and sprays a fragrance when you leave.

Top 5: Most expensive toilets

1 Russian-made International Space Station Toilet: US$19 million (Dh69.7m)

2 3D Hang Fung Gold Toile:t $5.8m

3 Shanghai Moon River Art Park Toilet: $602,000

4 Swarovski Crystal Toilet: $75,000/p>

5 Dagobert Wooden Toilet Throne: $14,123

Source: Lilomag.com

The Quote: For marriage to be a success, every woman and every man should have her and his own bathroom. The end. - Catherine Zeta Jones, actress