A panel of speakers led by Founder Intelier, Marina Mrdjen, explored the latest trends in luxury design and why original luxury products are the only way forward
Dubai Design District (d3) continues leading the conversation on elevated design, as witnessed at its recent panel discussion. The district’s contemporary Colab Design Studio hosted an insightful expert-led discussion investigating the shifting landscape of luxury in home design and interior decoration in a post-COVID world.
The event was moderated by Founder and Strategic Director of Intelier, Marina Mrdjen, who tackled the question: “How to bring Luxury, Design and Style to your home?”. She was joined by panellists Omar Nakkash, Design Director of NAKKASH Design Studio, Mona Alameddine Zaiter, Business Director Middle East at Christopher Guy, and Salim Khoury, Regional Business Manager Middle East at Vitra.
The event covered a range of illuminating topics, starting with the top trends shaping luxury homes. Speakers discussed how strict lockdown measures during the pandemic forced individuals to re-evaluate their definition of luxury. Said Khoury, “People always tend to think of luxury as one element that’s very high material: marble backsplash; wonderful pieces of furniture. But I think nowadays, it encompasses a lot more. It encompasses comfort. It encompasses personal reflection in a space.”
In a striking change of tradition, the experts shared how their corporate customers were increasingly interested in making professional workspaces feel cosier and more personalised. The inevitable return to business offices has inspired management to inject elements of home into the work environment, encouraging discoveries made during work-from-home to become a part of corporate design. Such design requests demonstrate how employers are more interested in making their staff feel comfortable and productive at once.
The audience had the opportunity to hear the three panellists defend the movement ‘buy less, buy luxury’. Khoury explained that original luxury design promises a history of careful consideration, creativity and durability that is not guaranteed in duplicated pieces. “When we talk about an original product, we are talking about a product that has never been seen before; has been thought of and meticulously elaborated on by a designer until it took a specific shape, a certain aesthetic, a certain material, and solved a solution that the market had a gap of.”
Addressing customer concerns of financial constraints, the speakers insisted that budget transparency with designers and consultants from the get-go allows for a more accommodating design process. “Sometimes we can really ask the customer, ‘What solution do you want to get from this product?’. When the client shares the gap that was missing, or the gap they are trying to solve, we can have a solution that can be higher or lower than his or her budget. This is where the conversation starts and where the solution is provided.”
Dubai Design District continues to play a pivotal role spearheading the conversation of thought-provoking and functional design across the region. The recent Rethink Interiors panel discussions hosted at Collab Design Studio demonstrates the future-mindedness of d3’s creative community and fosters a valuable space to sustain the exchange of insightful information constant and engaging.
