Ones to watch: regional brands, designers and objects

Courtesy of Silsal Design House

Courtesy of Mona Itani

Courtesy of O'de Rose

Courtesy of Aljoud Lootah

Courtesy of The Design Shop by S*uce

We list the regional brands, designers and objects that caught our eye in 2015.

Ayah Al Bitar

We were impressed by the thinking behind Saudi Arabian designer Ayah Al Bitar’s debut collection, Wisada. Conceived while Al Bitar was completing her thesis at Parsons School of Design in New York, Wisada is a collection of floor seats that reassesses how we sit on the ground. Shaped like oversized bicycle seats and available in a stunning array of colours, the original leather versions were developed in association with a chiropractor and psychologist, making for an orthopaedic solution that is as supportive as it is stylish. The seats are constructed in Dubai using Tempur and memory foam, and set on a thin sheet of plywood to keep them stable and flat. A newer version of Wisada is available in brightly coloured springbok hide, but we like the simplicity of the original editions. There is also a social message behind the objects – Al Bitar is using them to explore the issue of female mobility and transportation in her country. Given that she has now launched a showroom in Dubai Design District (D3), we can’t wait to see what new intelligent and well-researched ideas Al Bitar has in store for us.

Silsal Design House

Founded as it was in 1989 by Reem and Rula Atalla, in Amman, ­Jordan, Silsal is hardly a new brand. But it is now under the stewardship of Reem’s daughter, Samar Habayeb, who has grand plans for the ­company. This year saw the brand’s relaunch, with the unveiling of an online store, a move of its headquarters from Amman to Dubai, and the launch of its first collection of furniture. Silsal Design House already offers a stellar collection of smaller accessories, including tableware, serveware, cutesy cups and mugs, candles and cushions, all emblazoned with the brand’s trademark motifs. Added to this are Middle East-inspired dining tables, consoles, chairs, sofas and side ­tables, with more to come. Inspired by Islamic art and traditional ­Arabic calligraphy and script, Silsal’s products will make for great gifts and mementoes of the region.

Mona Itani

Mona Itani was one of those ­unexpected finds. The Lebanon-born, Dubai-based independent designer started out creating tiers out of ­unusual vintage plates and has since moved on to statement chairs. Hand-painted and hand-engraved, her seats take on weird and wonderful shapes, combining intricate craftsmanship with bold, mismatched colours and fabrics. They are produced in Beirut in limited numbers, and encapsulate Itani’s unconventional aesthetic. We are particularly taken by the Jaylyn Willow chairs – a stout seat with a small circular backrest that extends out into a beautiful avian form. Itani is still on the proverbial down-low – so her chairs offer a rare opportunity to have something unique and previously unseen in your home.

Iyad Naja

Beirut-based designer Iyad Naja was in town during Dubai Design Week to unveil a ­collection of stools entitled A Passion for Calligraphy. They were created for an exhibition at O’de Rose, which was also the global launch pad for a new line of stools by Sacha Walkhoff, the creative director of Christian Lacroix, for Verreum. Stocked exclusively in Dubai at O’de Rose, Naja’s creations featured his signature blending of ­traditional Arabic calligraphy with ­contemporary materials such as concrete, and offered an ­interesting dialogue between two ­contradictory materials – concrete and brass. Inspired by ­verses of poetry written by his own grandmother, Naja is committed to taking the essence of the Arabic language, and giving it a progressive twist. “It’s a beautiful language, has ­beautiful flow and ­beautiful shapes,” he says.

Aljoud Lootah

We met Emirati designer Aljoud Lootah at the beginning of the year, ahead of the launch of her first official furniture collection at Design Days Dubai. Inspired by origami, the Oru collection consisted of a chair, table lamp, cabinet/shelving unit and mirror, defined by their sharp, angular shapes and artful blending of teak wood with bronze and felt accents. Since then, Lootah has gone from strength to strength. During Dubai ­Design Week, her Yaroof sculpture was showcased on The Beach at JBR. Four octagons with blue netting stretched across them like an airy, canopied tent, the structure was inspired by a traditional form of fishing in which fishermen use a strong mesh net to trawl fish in from the shallows. More recently, Lootah presented two of her latest projects during the launch of Warehouse421 in Abu Dhabi. She created two handmade carpets, Misnad and Uwairyan, inspired by traditional sadu weaving techniques and made from 100 per cent wool by artisans in Afghanistan. Uwairyan is a modular carpet depicting geometric patterns that can be customised by ­attaching between one and four carpets together.

The Design Shop by S*uce

The Design Shop by S*uce began its life as S*uce Gifts, but this year evolved into something rather more interesting. Located in Dubai’s Al Wasl Square, it offers a beautifully curated, sometimes wacky, sometimes whimsical collection of design objects, many of which are crafted by regional designers. A case in point is the Braided Series by Emirati artist and designer Latifa Saeed, which includes this sumptuous stool, or the fabulous Middle East-inspired artwork by Corinne Martin. The store is also spearheading some interesting design initiatives, including collaborations with Los Angeles-based artist and designer Paige Smith. The Design Shop is a natural extension of the S*uce brand, in that it tries to offer UAE consumers something completely new and fresh.