Home · Category
The people who make the things, the places and the arguments worth reading about.
At 90, Giorgio Armani was still opening blockbuster flagships, snubbing fashion royalty and rewriting the red carpet—while refusing to retire. This is the story of the man who turned “quiet luxury” into a global dress code.
Celebrated for reimagining classical design through a contemporary Arab lens, AlJoaib unveils a project uniting traditional craftsmanship with mid-century, sculptural influences. The result, she tells us, carries her unmistakable signature.
Editor's Pick
Architect, artist, weaver, wanderer—Abeer Seikaly refuses to be just one thing. From Bedouin tents to maritime nets, the Jordanian-Palestinian maker transforms movement, memory, and material into living, breathing architectures of curiosity.
When a West Bank village and Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre collide, an Oscar-winning documentary angers Israeli ministers and BDS activists alike — proof that in an absolutist conflict, collaboration and empathy remain the most subversive acts.
At the forefront of supertall innovation, architect Gordon Gill is redefining what a kilometre-high skyscraper can be — balancing extreme height with environmental performance, human comfort and cultural meaning in Saudi Arabia’s landmark Jeddah Tower.
'Emmanuelle' was a provocative softcore movie (with some risible dialogue) from the 1970s about the study of an open marriage from a female perspective of liberated sexuality but, fifty years on, the Lebanese director Audrey Diwan has created her own more modern version of the legend.
India-based Studio VDGA makes its architecture foray in Dubai with a resplendent family home, dubbed House of Courtyards, that's inspired by the traditional architecture of the Arabian Gulf but raised to a sublime degree.
Rami Tabbara, 40, co-founder and co-CEO speaks to me on Zoom from Stake’s “cool set-up” at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) located on Gate Avenue’s shiny financial and fintech district. He scans the camera around the office, to where his team are busying away behind the sce
The celebrated Valencian architect reflects on the circumstances that shaped his career, from attending art school aged eight to his ambitions for the School of Beaux Arts and the move that took him to Zürich.
Yasmine Sfar and Mehdi Kebaier are the creative duo behind Altin Studio. They aptly named their brand after the Arabic word ‘Al-Tin’ meaning earth (or clay) as a means to reflect their philosophy of returning to the soil and to the traditional crafts of their native country. Their debut…
Beirut-based interior architect Roland Helou, 37, spent his formative years between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, where his father was employed at the construction company Saudi Oger. “It was Dad’s employment that piqued an early interest in design. I remember as a young kid in Riyadh, I us…
If you visit Cool Inc.’s corporate website, you’ll discover it calls itself a chameleon due to the reptile’s ability to adapt to an ever-changing world. “The chameleon is distinctive and highly specialised,” the website rationalises, “He is charismatic and confident but maintains a powe…
I am waiting for Michael Kors in an all-white room backstage before his Spring/Summer 2024 Collection catwalk show in New York. I hear him before I see him but, when he does appear, I see he’s dressed in his signature head to toe black, accessorised with his all-season suntan. “Th…
Nearly seven years after founding La Revêche, creative director Sara Melis explains her ambition to move swimwear beyond the merely functional, introducing sophisticated pieces that make wearers feel beautifully dressed up for the beach.
The Saudi art scene is booming right now, but behind the hot-topic exhibitions and international showcases are some incredible curators such as Jumana Ghouth, who has put together a multitude of shows over the years, from thought-provoking spotlights on single artists to large group sho…
It was over twenty-five years ago that Hamad Sultan (above) and Achille Rossini first met as students at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). Then, after they both graduated in 2000, they ended up getting recruited by the same architecture firm in Boston – NADAAA (formerly Office dA). …
Much has been said about the modern day ‘It’ girl. Shorthand for an ineffable aura – one that embodies the cultural zeitgeist and reflects it back to us in sartorial flare and memeable moments – lately it’s become a bit of a misnomer. Probably because the elusive archetype is so hard to…
Raised amid the luxury fashion world through her parents, Ivi studied Fashion Design at Parsons before stumbling into jewellery. A 2016 visit to an Italian factory introduced her to mentor Gabriele Veneri.
Designer Jozeph Forakis is back in his native New York, over from Milan for the Palm Beach International Boat Show. He joins us from his childhood bedroom in the Brooklyn enclave of Greenpoint.
For IVI's Cypriot founder Ivi Kyratzi, jewellery must pair as easily with a white t-shirt as with eveningwear. Her collections find sensuality in contradiction, bridging contemporary and classic, masculine and feminine, symmetrical and uneven.
Beirut-born chief executive Malek Sukkar speaks to me via video conference from his Dubai office looking ready to do business in a white shirt and dove-grey tie. It’s currently what he likes to call the Emirate’s “palatable season”. Behind him, the mid-afternoon sun streams throug…
The town of Bressanone in South Tyrol, where Sandy Attia lives and works, has a unique topography which makes for a very particular working environment, thanks to the dramatic and spectacular Dolomites Mountain range. “Here the mountains are very present, and the landscape is vertical s…
On the day the fashion designer Glenn Martens was announced as the new creative director at Diesel, no one was more excited than his big brother. “He was a megafan long before I got there,” says the Belgian designer of his elder sibling, a fireman. “His Instagram is dedicated to Diesel …
In Silicon Valley, the buzz is all about eternal youth. Billionaires are pouring cash into immortality tech, the science of hacking old age and even death. Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, has invested millions in the Methuselah Foundation, a non-profit that aims to make “90 the new 5…
Let’s not beat around the bush here: Amale Andraos is a pioneer, a legend of the architecture world, a role model to Arab creatives and a hero to women. Born in Beirut in 1973, she was raised in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, where her father, an architect himself, had established a pre…
Fifty-five years after founding his label in New York, the 83-year-old designer staged his Spring 2023 collection at San Marino's Huntington Library, his first runway show ever held on the West Coast.
The CEO of OnlyFans, Amrapali “Ami” Gan, is worried that you will have heard of her company but won’t understand what it does or how it works. “There’s been a lot of misconceptions about OnlyFans. Honestly, most people don’t even know what the business is.” And that is why, she confirms…
Speaking from her home in Cairo's leafy Maadi suburbs, the twenty-seven-year-old model-turned-actor proves utterly singular. Wrapped in faux fur against a cloudy morning, Heba El-Dessouky is happy in her own skin and would rather cook dinner.
The first woman to model in a hijab on major runways reflects on leaving the industry behind. Models are disposable and replaceable, she says, so she chose to replace modelling with something altogether better.
Dubai-based architect Wael Al Awar is not a big fan of 20th century modern architecture. Rather, he subscribes to a new school of expression that eschews ornamentation and focusses on projects that revive cultural identity and craft as well as encourage public engagements and sustainabi…
The Emirati designer has become a leading voice in the Gulf's design scene, weaving folk stories, geometry and sustainable materials into furniture, objects and installations that reinterpret tradition for a modern audience.
Ruby Rose Korver created Arnie Swim as a passion project but it also serves as an ode to her late father, Arnie Korver. “My father shaped me as a person and taught me so many life lessons. I wanted to create something that makes people feel good, and gives them the freedom to be themsel…
The celebrated creative director speaks candidly about reconciling a glamorous career with a deliberately simple life in Nettuno, the seaside town where he and his wife grew up and chose to raise their own children.
Lyna Khoudri has her work cut out for her in Wes Anderson’s ‘The French Dispatch’. In the king of kook’s latest film, a love letter to journalism, France and all things quintessentially Anderson, the little-known French-Algerian actress first has to stake a claim for herself in an insan…
The now 40-year-old Egyptian-born architect Tarek Shamma launched his career at London’s Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA), graduating with honours in 2009. During the prestigious course, he hit the ground running for Zaha Hadid working on key competitions in Algiers…
Spread across ten beautifully curated rooms, the biggest challenge for Karim Abdul Muttalib and Ann Abukhalil, the two founders of K.A. Interiors, was to make sure the entire villa reflected a unified theme while still giving each room its unique character and identity. To fulfil their …
For the designer Nouchi, every collection begins with a book, transforming the private intimacy of reading into something shared. That softness now shapes a label where home wear and loungewear have naturally become the bestsellers.
“The GameStop rally marked a crystallising moment for the online mob,” a technology reporter at The Washington Post wrote shortly after the dust had settled earlier this year, following a tumultuous swing of fortunes in which the equity price of the struggling American video game retail…
Kevin O’Leary is one of North America’s most successful business entrepreneurs, a business commentator, as well as a star on ABC’s Shark Tank. Known for telling it like it is, with his matter-of-fact commentary on business issues, ‘Mr. Wonderful’ is truly one-of-a-kind in the world of b…
Interestingly, Olivia Crouan, the Chief Brand Officer for Audemars Piguet, hasn’t always been a watch person. She spent most of her career (almost 20 years) working with brands in the wine and spirits division of LVMH. In fact, she only joined the horological world after moving to Genev…
“What I love about poetry is the freedom that comes with the page and what you can do with the blank spaces. You can do almost anything – even defy the confines of grammar – it’s like the abstract art of the literary world,” says Danielle Badra, the latest winner of the Etel Adnan Poetr…
A pioneer of the international design scene, Vincenzo De Cotiis is passionate about all artistic forms. “I make no distinction and I believe that the three areas – architecture, interior design and art – are animated by the same energies,” he explains. Whatever De Cotiis works on, from …
“A fikra started while I was living in New York,” says Mikey Muhanna, who grew up in an expatriate community in Cyprus before attending high school in Lebanon and then moving to the U.S. for college, where he remained for another ten years after graduation. “Its genesis was born out of …
Bahaar is a lifestyle brand you’re going to want to get familiar with. Centred around dresses, beachwear, tops and skirts, it was founded two years ago by Sofya Benzakour, a Paris-based architect turned fashion blogger, as a tribute to her Moroccan heritage. “My grandmother used to sew …
Architects don’t typically like to break out of the box when it comes to naming their firms. Take Perkins Eastman, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Foster and Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects as prime examples of this fact. But, as ever, rules are made to be broken and there are at least three noti…
It’s crazy to think that Greta Thunberg, the Swedish environmental campaigner and pioneer of the school strike movement, is already 18. It feels like only yesterday that she appeared on the international stage – an impish 15-year-old prophet of doom telling world leaders they were steal…
Having been appointed Honorary Chair of the World Refugee & Migration Council (WRMC) earlier this year, we sat down with HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan in order to discuss the state of affairs in our region. YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS, CONSIDERING THAT EACH COUNTRY SEEMS TO HAVE …
YOU’RE FROM COMO IN ITALY. YOU STARTED YOUR CAREER IN YOUR FATHER GIANFRANCO’S CLOTHING COMPANY IN THE US THEN CAME BACK TO ITALY AND CREATED YOUR OWN BRAND, NEW ENGLAND, WHICH YOU SOLD IN 2000. WHEN DID YOU BECOME THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF MONCLER? [Remo Ruffini] In 2000. MONCLER …
Anissa Kermiche’s business is struggling to keep up with demand to the point that most of the major e-commerce platforms that stock her wares – like Matches Fashion, Farfetch, MyTheresa, SSense, Net-a-Porter and so on – are sold out. Get in touch with her company in London directly, and…
SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY INSTANTLY? The sunrise. Instantly is very specific… A MOVIE THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY? ‘The Philadelphia Story’ is a movie that makes me happy, to think about or to watch. Your happiness tips? First to be kind to others. Second, to surround yourself…
The Swiss-born Lebanese designer Sandra Mansour says she had aspired to become an artist long before she ever made the shift to fashion. And you can see as much in her work, which carries dreamy, romantic elements, as well as characterful prints that betray her passion for painting. Yet…
It’s a fact that nearly all tech startups set out with the intention of advancing human society. The reason why so many fail however, is not that their purpose was non-existent, but that their purpose was too narrow. Nicolas Zaatar and Charlie El Khoury, the Lebanese entrepreneurs…
Born in Fez in 1991, Bahaar attended French school in Morocco, embracing two cultures and several languages. She charts her unlikely journey from training as an architect to becoming an influencer and fashion designer.
WHAT WAS THE MOTIVATION FOR BOTH OF YOU TO CHANGE CAREER PATHS FROM FILM TO DESIGN AND CREATE TOLLGÅRD DESIGN GROUP? [Staffan Tollgård] It was our first house project that was the catalyst for my move into the design world. Monique and I met in our twenties on the set of a low budget fe…
Once in a while, a new brand comes along that feels familiar yet different. It brings a sense of excitement and new possibilities, while also making the old guard perk up and take notice. That’s exactly what Charaf Tajer has done with his new label Casablanca. Founded in Paris just over…
Giorgio Armani didn’t go down the livestream route for the unveiling of his audience-less spring-summer 2021 main-line collection. He actually went a step further and broadcast the show live on the Italian TV network La7 as a gesture – no doubt – of rebooting an industry bruised b…
No single architect has done more to change the landscape of Beirut’s port district than Bernard Khoury. Having first broken ground in the early 1990s with his landmark BO18 club, he has since added three major residential towers as well as his own studio to the area, but on August 4th,…
Where other girls of 21 might still be wondering what to do with their lives, Yousra Mohsen has already achieved her goal of making it as a professional dancer. But it wasn’t easy. Her achievement of becoming the first Middle Easterner to join the Crazy Horse in Paris, sparked an …
It’s official, Nada G. has rebranded as Nada Ghazal Fine Jewelry. “As a young marque, the name ‘Nada G’ served us well locally,” explains 48-year-old Ghazal, “it was edgy and young, just like the brand. But now we cater to a much larger client base, with different personas and a w…
Founded in Beirut in 1891, L'Atelier Nawbar creates intricate designs worn as expressions of love and heritage. Dima and Tania are the dynasty's first female jewellers, continuing their family tradition with modern flair.
Anisa Kamadoli Costa, Chief Sustainability Officer at Tiffany & Co. and Chair of its Foundation, reflects on an interesting journey to a role where she feels she truly belongs, beginning at Columbia University.
From the first Arab Nobel Laureate to the inventor of the lithium-ion battery, the Middle East's contribution to science did not end with its medieval Golden Age. It is still being written.
Creative Director Sarah Burton talks us through an Autumn/Winter 2020-21 ready-to-wear collection she wanted grounded, bold and heroic, drawing on Welsh heritage and the comfort of quilting and blankets.
You could be forgiven for not knowing Zaniz, yet her portfolio spans more than two decades across residential architecture, commercial interiors, theatre and furniture. We shine a light on a designer who remains elusive.
Born and bred in Lebanon, Rana Nasr runs Bleu Design Consultants from a small Beirut apartment. Her credits include Six Senses in St Kitts and Zighy Bay, and now La Sagesse in Grenada.
Saudi-born and educated in the UK and Australia, Yousef Akbar graduated with a master's in Logistics Management from Sydney in 2012, then swapped spreadsheets for fashion and studied design to follow his true calling.
IT HAS BEEN 23 YEARS SINCE YOU FOUNDED YOUR COMPANY, HOW WOULD YOU CLASSIFY WHERE YOU’VE REACHED AND ARE THERE ANY AMBITIONS YOU HAVE YET TO REALISE? [Zuhair Murad] I’m very happy with and grateful for how far I have come. I’ve worked incredibly hard to get to this poi…
In a new documentary for NBCUniversal's Oxygen, the reality star joins legal experts on four cases of people she believes were unfairly sentenced, while reflecting on criticism and her bold new direction.
As governments wrestle with political uprisings and pandemics, policy adviser Suzan Elsayed warns that the region risks falling behind unless it commits seriously to research, development and growth-centred thinking right now.
HOW DID YOU END UP WORKING IN THE WATCH INDUSTRY? [Christian Knoop, Creative Director at IWC Schaffhausen] Watch design was always something I looked at as a source of inspiration and admiration. I am a trained industrial designer and have worked on vastly different products, ranging fr…
Both for countries across the Middle East and around the world, life as we know it came to a grinding halt in early March 2020. As a result it has become crystal clear how fragile our existence is. Talk about a reality check. Despite all the technology we’ve implemented, the complex fin…
The Modist may be no more, but back in February 2019 (issue 73), it was just two years old and definitely on the rise. So we spoke to Ghizlan Guenez, the founder of this conservative fashion e-retailer, as she was on a quest to dispel the notion that modesty means being frumpy or un-chi…
It’s been quite a rollercoaster ride for Saudi businesswoman Princess Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz. The former Editor of Vogue Arabia has moved on from her dramatic and highly publicised ousting but she’s holding on to her crown as one of the Middle East’s main fashion protagonists. As far …
Bill Gates is not wearing a seatbelt. I worry about his safety as we speed along the cleared roads of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, flanked by military outriders, but his aides either don’t notice or know not to mention it, so I decide I shouldn’t wear one either. The goats have been…
2019 was a strong year for LVMH and its owner, Bernard Arnault. They acquired Tiffany & Co. for 16.2 billion USD, opened a third LV factory in the US (the world’s largest luxury market) and ended the year 82 billion USD up in terms of market value. You would therefore expect more of…
Launched just last September, Dubai-based Maison Orient is a newcomer to the e-commerce scene that’s creating a space exclusively for talent from this side of the world. “When I started discovering amazing talent from different countries, I realised how under-represented the…
Kenneth Ize, remember the name. The Lagos-born and based designer was a finalist of the LVMH Prize for emerging talent, and he’s putting Africa on the fashion map. It’s the kind of exuberant fabric you might see at a Nigerian wedding. Hand-woven by artisans using a techniqu…
Architect Lina Ghotmeh digs into Lebanon’s heritage to create a contemporary landmark that’s as innovative as it is nostalgic. The urban landscape across from the Port of Beirut has undergone a small but significant change. At the edge of Saifi and just beyond Downtown Beirut’s eastern …
World renowned for her ability to merge Japanese austerity and Middle Eastern ornamentation, we couldn’t resist the chance to see inside Nada Debs’ Beirut home, as it revealed another chapter in the story of this designer with a vision. Nada Debs has an eye for colour. It’s evident from…
Linda Sarsour is a Palestinian-American who simultaneously criticises Israel while working on the campaign of a Democratic candidate who might well be the first Jewish US president. Few phrases in the world of politics are wheeled out more commonly than the cry of anti-Semitism. While m…
Tucked away in a residential neighbourhood, Brach Paris is an eclectic and unpretentious new hotel by Philippe Starck that’s shaking up the city’s straitlaced 16th arrondissement. YOU’RE KNOWN TO DISLIKE TALKING ABOUT DESIGN, AS JUST DESIGN, SO WHAT WERE YOUR STARTING POINT…
While catering to the Middle East’s conservative culture and insatiable appetite for marriage, startup dating app Harmonica wants to revolutionise dating in the Arab world. It’s crazy that just a few years ago, Internet dating meant tethering yourself to your computer, but thanks to the…
The amazing three-bedroom house in Shiga, Japan, is the brainchild of Japanese architect Kouichi Kimura. Located between the owner’s concrete factory and a highway, its walls reduce noise level inside and have few windows, providing fortress-level of insulation from the chaos out…
When it comes to furniture design, there are few genuine pioneers left but Sawaya & Moroni are the exception. The independent manufacturers constantly seek new directions, pushing boundaries and creating historically significant pieces in the process. I felt pretty lucky this past C…
With Calypso House, SOMA Architects’ Michel Abboud has created the ultimate seafront home. The glass structure pushes boundaries while providing for an idyllic family getaway. Few homes in Lebanon are as distinctive as Calypso House. Designed by Michel Abboud, founding principal of SOMA…
Fearlessly subverting the notion of classic menswear, creative director Mark Weston is in the midst of a quiet revolution at Dunhill. So we caught up with him to ask how he has managed to flip this 127-year-old British heritage brand from old-school to new-school. DUNHILL HAS BEEN REBO…
Once upon a time conservative dressing was a euphemism for frumpy fashion. Now thanks to visionary designers like Faiza Bouguessa, you can do away with revealing clothes without fear of arrest by the Fashion Police. If you think of modest fashion, your mind’s probably not conjuring up …
Women couldn’t drive in Saudi Arabia until last year, but race driver Reema Juffali is taking her right to drive to the next level. Against all odds, she’s forging a trailblazing career in the male-dominated world of motorsports. Five years ago, no one would have believed that a Saudi w…
The award-laden Emirati entrepreneur and deputy chairman of the Bin Ham Group has quietly pledged at least half his fortune to humanitarian causes, ensuring his generosity endures well beyond his own lifetime.
Fresh from playing Aladdin in the billion-dollar blockbuster, the Egyptian-Canadian actor talks candidly about typecasting, his foundation for artists of colour, plant-based living and his neo-noir Hulu thriller.
Fresh off the heels of his role as Aladdin in the blockbuster Hollywood film, Mena Massoud is speaking out about the lack of diversity in Hollywood, saving the planet and his new Hulu series ‘Reprisal’, a neo-noir thriller set to launch this December. ALADDIN EXCEEDED ALL EXPECTATIONS A…
Michel Abboud, Founder and Principal at NYC-based SOMA Architects, shares his views on the future of architecture in the Middle East. SOMA BECAME GLOBALLY RENOWNED IN 2010 WITH THE PARK 51 ISLAMIC CENTER IN NYC, CLOSE TO GROUND ZERO. WHAT CAUSED THIS CONSTERNATION DO YOU THINK? It becam…
It’s a feel-good story with lots of happy endings. Toters has gone from startup app to thriving business in a couple of years, and it’s a stellar example of how hard work and great tech are more important than an original idea. Everyone has a great idea at some point or another in…
Ghanaian-British architect Sir David Adjaye has cultivated a reputation for being fearless and nonconformist but a new project in Abu Dhabi could well define his career. Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island is fast becoming the Arabian Gulf’s most distinguished cultural hub. Travel there now and…
Aquazzura founder and creative director Edgardo Osorio is known for his joyful disposition as much as for his mood-elevating footwear. The fetching Colombian-born designer shares his thoughts on his autumn/winter 2019 collection, having too many shoes and driving in heels. HOW WOULD YOU…
Karen Wazen’s eyewear label is infiltrating the global fashion market with designer products at high-street prices plus a very of-the-moment digital marketing strategy. Dubai-based Instagrammer Karen Wazen could easily have been content with her lot as a social media influencer wh…
Following the onset of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, architect Philippe Daher left both his country and his architecture practice behind. But personifying the motto of what to do when life gives you lemons, he eventually established a new life in neighbouring Lebanon, this time as a tal…
If there was ever a watershed moment for the tech industry in the Middle East, it’s now. Following Souq.com’s acquisition by Amazon last March for 580 million USD and Uber’s acquisition of Careem in June for a cool 3.1 billion USD, all eyes are on a new breed of startups. But don’t take…
American artist Nathan Sawaya abandoned a lucrative career as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer to sculpt with Lego. He reflects on the leap of faith that turned childhood bricks into a serious artistic calling.
Alakeel’s original and creative east-meets-west designs have been around for over a decade but it’s only now, within a new context of reform and change within the Kingdom, that they’re finding more mainstream success. Having debuted during Dubai’s Fashion Week back in 2008, many might h…