ETIENNE SALOME WHY DID YOU BECOME A DESIGNER? I was attracted to the chalenge of combining technical restrictions and creative freedom; it’s an interaction that makes every day at work an experience. But there’s also a great responsibility, for just a single idea, a small sketch, can lead to…
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Design
Koa Canvas is not like your other residential projects in Dubai. With 43 different floor plans for the 70 apartments, it heralds a new approach to community building, one in which individuality and identity are front and centre. What the 30-somethings of today are looking for in a place to…
Filmmaker Alejandro Landes’ glorious contemporary home in Miami, on the shores of Biscayne Bay, is as captivating as a cinematic masterpiece. Casa Bahia unfolds like a cinematic dream. The luxurious home (which at 50 million USD, is one of the most expensive properties on the Miami market) literally floats above…
Cairo is a city of scale – it’s the first thing you’re confronted with when you see it from the aeroplane. Not only can you see the Pyramids of Giza, the city’s oldest and most famous example of art at scale, but there are also the vast tracts of red,…
James Clar emerged in Dubai as a prominent figure in the contemporary art scene, building his reputation as a creative master of neon light and technology. Now based in Brooklyn, New York, the artists’ star is rising as he capitalises on a generalised hunger for conceptual works that meld art…
Gabriel & Guillaume is an ephemeral gallery of decorative arts that’s got eclecticism at its very core. Started by a Lebanese woman and a Frenchman, neither of whom are trained designers, it’s an unconventional business that has found success among a cultured customer base. Standing next to a curvy Mexican…
When architect Nabil Gholam first saw Villa Z, an old abandoned house damaged by years of civil war and military occupation, it was far from love at first sight. From an architectural perspective, it was no gem, with a façade covered in rough stone coursing and a red tile roof…
Founded in 1950, Vitra has made an art form of collaborating with the world’s best designers to create groundbreaking, iconic furniture and now they have a new gabled brick structure to house their 7,000-plus furniture portfolio. Clearly, this creative incubator is in better shape than ever. To those in the…
OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), co-founded by Dutch architectural titan and theorist, Rem Koolhaas, has produced as many world-famous architects as it has world-famous buildings. The latest to join the fray is Syrian-born, Iyad Alsaka, partner in charge of the Middle East. Iyad Alsaka’s voice is hoarse this morning during…
Emerging from the sparkle and chaos of Beirut is a new generation of prodigious creative design talents, and Nicolas Moussallem and David Raffoul are two striking examples. As the founding partners of a popular retro-futuristic furniture brand, their star is rising. The Lebanese design duo, Nicolas Moussallem and David Raffoul,…