“Old World Craftmanship”

Gurri NY Design + Remodel was established in 1997 and began working with major manufacturing tile and stone showrooms. One of Sami Kelmendi’s (the company’s founder) very first jobs was working for the Ann Sacks Tile & Stone showroom where he became a preferred tile contractor working in NYC Metro area apartments and townhouses. The old pre-war buildings had a familiar feeling to the ones of Sami’s old-world village in Albania, where he grew up. Sami was always handy and would fix things for his family home as well as for his village neighbors.

As Kelmendi expanded his business, he began working with other prominent manufacturer showrooms, and word-of-mouth about his creative design and expert craftsmanship got around. There were a lot of challenges working with the showrooms’ constantly changing product lines. But this is what Sami found enjoyable, learning about new products coming into the marketplace–it was exciting, a sentiment that he brings to his work today!

While working with other prestigious architectural stone and tile showroom clients people began recommending him for full kitchen, bath design and remodeling jobs that eventually led into a full apartment and brownstone renovations.
Sami Kelmendi immigrated to the United States from Albania, with a degree in business in 1994. He left his homeland because of a lack of work opportunities due to an unstable economic situation that led to the Albanian ‘diaspora.’ Sami’s first job in the USA was apprenticing for an old-world craftsman, an American who was also an immigrant–he taught Sami the art of tiling and stone design:

“He was a perfectionist and incredibly particular, I never met anyone like him, everything was so precise. He would show up at the same time each day and expected us to be ready to work. He taught me how important it was to take pride in my work, how to be precise in everything including to always be on time. This was how I learned and fell in love with the design, stone, and tile business.” Sami continues, “He was my mentor, I’ll never forget him and to this day use what he taught me every day,” states Gurri CEO & Founder Sami G. Kelmendi.

With a wife expecting their first child at his side, they began their journey building up the Gurri business to its current popularity today.