From Poverty in Spain to Bugattis in Dubai — Andrian of Venom Black

The Man Behind Some of Dubai's Most Aggressive Cars

If you've been in Dubai long enough, you've almost certainly seen one of Andrian's cars — a blacked-out Rolls-Royce Wraith with wide arches, a Ferrari Purosangue with a completely reimagined front, or an Urus that looks nothing like what left the factory. The brand is Venom Black, the showroom sits at Imarati One near Burj Khalifa, and the man behind it grew up in a village outside Valencia where his family collected leftover food from the supermarket after closing time and sourced clothes from the local church.

That contrast — extreme scarcity, then extreme machines — is what makes this episode one of our most compelling conversations to date.

Growing Up with Nothing, Dreaming of Everything

Andrian was born in Carcaixent, a small town near Valencia, Spain. His father had emigrated from Africa in the 1970s, a time when Black families in Spain faced persistent racism and struggled to find steady work. His mother did what she had to do to keep the family fed.

We were born in a really poor family. My mother would go to the supermarket when it closed — the food they would put in the garbage — to take care of us. I saw this situation many times and I told myself: I don't want this for my future.

What kept him sane was sketching. Cars, comics, anything with wheels. The spark he points to most clearly is Knight Rider — a Pontiac Firebird on a small TV screen that made a kid in a village with no cars on the streets believe something different was possible.

2012: The Year He Went All In

Andrian spent years in standard employment before a decision in 2012 changed the trajectory entirely. He used savings from what he describes simply as "some good work" to buy two cars and start trading. That led him to a custom car he spotted in Germany, which led him to become a distributor for a German customisation brand, which eventually led to the moment that defined Venom Black.

The German company handed him a new project — then pulled it back, telling him he didn't have the experience to deliver. His response was to walk into his own garage and tell his team they were doing it themselves. When they pushed back, his answer was direct:

If you tell me we cannot do this, I don't have more to do here. Today is the day we close the company.

They didn't close the company. They spent close to a year on that first project — pulling it apart, reworking it, arguing over every line. It was, in his words, "a fun nightmare." It was also the last time anyone on his team told him something was impossible.

The Venom Black Philosophy

Fourteen years and somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 cars later, the brand's design process is anything but informal. Before any new prototype moves forward, Andrian brings together more than twelve people to agree on the direction — how aggressive to go, which lines to follow, and crucially, what not to touch.

The best designers in the world work for Ferrari, Porsche, Rolls-Royce — with the best salaries. We need to be careful. It's very easy to cross the line and break the sense of the car.

The brief for every project is the same: respect the original, find the gap the manufacturer left open, and push just far enough into it. Rolls-Royce wide-body fenders. A Purosangue front end that finally looks as dramatic as the badge suggests. And now, something no customisation house has done before.

Three Bugattis. Wide Body. Carbon Fibre. Everything.

At the time of recording, Venom Black had three Bugatti projects running simultaneously — all wide-body builds. Wide-body Bugattis, Andrian notes, have simply never been done at this level by any brand in the world. All three are getting full carbon fibre body kits, new wheels, and complete interior rebuilds. The engines — 16-cylinder units that are already beyond most imaginations — are staying exactly as Bugatti intended.

Two of the cars are headed to well-known clients. The third is going to Africa.

Jake Paul, Rolls-Royce Wraiths, and a Purosangue That Sells Itself

Among the names Andrian mentioned: Jake Paul, who took delivery of a customised Ferrari Purosangue at his private hangar. Andrian flew out personally to hand over the keys.

When he saw the car, he wasn't acting. He was like — what is this? That moment is all we need. More money, less money — that's not the point. When someone feels their dream is standing in front of them, and they can only get it from us, that's what matters.

On the Rolls-Royce side, the Wraith has been Venom Black's most consistent seller — over ten completed in a single year since the kit launched. The client profile for Rolls-Royce has shifted completely from a decade ago: it's no longer about restrained luxury for a retirement purchase. It's young, it's loud, and it needs wide arches.

What It Actually Costs

For anyone curious about what a Venom Black build involves, Andrian was straightforward. A full wide-body project with interior, exhaust, and performance upgrades typically runs around AED 1 million and takes two to three months. A true one-of-one commission — full prototype-level development — can reach AED 2–3 million and take anywhere from six months to a year. He currently has two or three builds in that tier completed, with more in progress under the new Venom Concepts programme.

The showroom at Imarati One (Showroom 81, near Burj Khalifa) carries seven to eight cars at any time, with more rotating through. Walk in and you're likely to find a Purosangue, a Urus, and a Roma on the floor — each one very different from anything you'd see at the official dealership.

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The full conversation goes further — into Andrian's views on competition, how his team approaches each new marque, and the reveal of a Phantom project we were specifically asked not to describe in detail. Catch the complete episode on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJAiKgEBKYY) or stream it wherever you listen to Dubai Stars.

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