After a whole month of fasting for many Muslims, today the first day of Eid falls. Whatever your traditions are and how you go about spending this day, I really hope you have a blessed Eid.
I hope the coming year will be better in every way for every one of you, may God bless us all with good days ahead.
Eid Mubarak, and remember life is back to normal now, so expect a season of work-overload ahead. Good luck and enjoy the holiday!
DesignMena is an online comprehensive magazine for everything architecture, interiors, and industrial design based in Dubai, U.A.E. They cover all construction news, design awards, materials, and supplier updates within the region. They even have free online publications for various sectors and can be downloaded free on your iPad.
I recommend you check their website out for the updates and download all their issues, they are very interesting.
You can buy your cake from a baker you may not remember the face of or go to a lab and get blood tests and not remember the face of the nurse who sucked the blood out of you, yet encounter other professional relationships where you have to spend a large portion of your time with and share more than the usual greetings.
Among these professionals is your interior designer, whom you hired to design your personal or work space. Either way, there are major points to take into consideration when selecting who to hand your space over to.
Your interior designer is a person you will inevitably have to like due to the amount of time and information you will have to share with. The sharing may include meals, family gatherings , family feuds, and times when you freak out and need confirmation that everything will be OK.
You might never think about this, but in reality your interior designer will know more about you than you ever intended. Your ID will be studying your behavior, your likes and pet peeves,in addition to some of your most intimate details, and trust me that’s NOT the highlight of our job. We need to know whether you use a bidet when you use your bathroom, and whether you and your spouse need a large bed or will be using separate rooms. Most of these details you might not share even with the closest people to you.
In addition to chemistry, you should find in your designer qualifications that make them “reliable”. Someone who has seen it all and is up to date on all new technologies and trends. Someone who can come up with solutions to the biggest problems on the spot, and come up with multiple solutions for a single dilemma.
A good ID would listen to what you have to say and give you quick pieces of advice that make it easy for you to spot if they are what you are looking for.
But how could you possibly know? isn’t that why you are looking for a designer in the first place? Here’s how:
1- Always ask for references, try to see photos of their work and let them explain what they did and how they tackled the problems they encountered.
2- Always ask about work procedures, how will the study be conducted and what is considered within their scope of work. Many ID seekers have no idea what an interior designer does, and that should be clarified from the first meeting.
3- Ask people about their work and ethics. People might not always give credible answers, but that’s up to you to spot a bitter person from a sincere one who has truly suffered.
4- Ask for a first meeting. Take them to the place you want to design, check how they treat you and your project. Beware of those who give out false hopes. Look for the realistic, yet not pessimistic, the creative, not the “we’ve done it a 100 times, we’ll do it for you as well” designers.
After your first meeting , the interior designer should lead the way. Your designer should explain to you how they will be saving you time and money and not the other way around. At this stage, try to provide drawings of the space you intend to design, or schedule a site visit, that should enable them to issue a proposal stating all you discussed and be clear in terms of phases of work and fees. From then on, you should have all the elements that should help you decide whether to hire them or not.
Last tip, ask as many questions as you like, after all you are going to be spending a great deal of your time with your interior designer, this contract will tie you together for a great deal of time!
Sahar
If you have any questions or need any tips, please ask away!
Check the article out on Khaleejesque!
From the ‘About’ section of Khaleejesque
Khaleejesque is a thriving lifestyle online magazine that revolves around everything hip and happening in the Arabian Gulf countries when it comes to the continuously evolving cultural scene.
The six countries that make up the GCC – Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – share closely related culture, history, and values; as well as a similar future. Apart from a couple of blogs and local magazines that do cover this flourishing culture, no one has really attempted to focus on the Gulf.
We aim to do so.
Khaleejesque is essentially a reflection of the Gulf transformed into an online magazine; it’s a one click portal that features everything there is to know about the Gulf. We, the Khaleejesque team, aim to cover the latest in regional happenings, feature interesting people and initiatives and share inspiring stories that are waiting to be told.
To check out their website go to Khaleejesque.com
Check the article out on Khaleejesque!
From the ‘About’ section of Khaleejesque
Khaleejesque is a thriving lifestyle online magazine that revolves around everything hip and happening in the Arabian Gulf countries when it comes to the continuously evolving cultural scene.
The six countries that make up the GCC – Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar – share closely related culture, history, and values; as well as a similar future. Apart from a couple of blogs and local magazines that do cover this flourishing culture, no one has really attempted to focus on the Gulf.
We aim to do so.
Khaleejesque is essentially a reflection of the Gulf transformed into an online magazine; it’s a one click portal that features everything there is to know about the Gulf. We, the Khaleejesque team, aim to cover the latest in regional happenings, feature interesting people and initiatives and share inspiring stories that are waiting to be told.
To check out their website go to Khaleejesque.com
A few days ago, I was driving with my aunt; she is a smart lady, the kind of person you like from the first hello. We spotted an old white Rolls Royce passing by us and we started talking. She mentioned that she liked old cars, old fashion, old furniture specially 30 and 40’s. For her, they embedded a richness that people used to have in themselves, the showiness we experience nowadays but in a glamorous classy way. I tried to explain to her that furniture changed because our lives changed; palaces became villas and large homes became 3 bedrooms apartments. Not only kings and ministers own expensive furniture; now, everybody wants a Masterpiece in his house. In addition to the fact that life runs in a faster pace thus, as a joke, cleaning modern furniture is easier!
Then I started thinking; what was the real difference between the antique and the modern?
In the age of kings, the makers were not known. The furniture piece was called by the king’s era. No one ever heard of Charles Rohlfs or Thomas Chippendale or even George Hepplewhite who influenced the Regency era’s furniture. But I bet all the money in my pocket that nine of ten people can recognize Philip Stark or Le Corbusier or even Armani who started his home collection a few years ago.
Furniture in the past centuries relied on workmanship, full of moldings, animal and floral shapes. Furniture in the late 90 and 21st century relies on names and labels. The age of craftsmanship is over. Now is the time of designers!
Being more of a modern thinker, some would accuse me of trashing antique furniture, which is not true in anyway; I am sure these beautiful pieces have reached their purpose of showing off for the most ornamented piece in palaces of kings and queens. I am not elevating banality in design either, where four pieces of wood and a top make a table. I plead the case of creative modern design because they are down to earth, down to people who look for inspiration every day. The marketing movement made people believe that they are worthy of getting whatever they dream of. And they are!
While antique pieces sell richness and showiness, modern pieces sell esthetic and comfort. For me, a rich piece is not one with heavy ornament or even labeled by a famous designer; it is the piece that speaks to me, shares its rich visual in a space, bonds with the feeling and atmosphere that people are looking for.
The designer must sell his vision not his hand making, his concept not his label. Whether he/ she are marketing antique or modern designs, he/ she are reflecting a sentiment, a way of life and their vision to the buyer. I agree that everybody deserves to own treasures in their homes because everybody is allowed to realize their dreams.
So here is my vision: If your dream is to have a gigantic antique clock, buy it. If your dream is to have Le Corbusier’s relaxing chair, buy it. But don’t buy a Masterpiece to show off; buy a Masterpiece to fulfill its Master’s desire.
by Pascale Azzi – Interior Architect
