< PreviousPower 50: Top Suppliers commercialinteriordesign.com December 2021 40 Martin Fryzelka CEO, NextSpace Co-founding the company a year ago with his business partner Laurence Dehlen, Martin decided to establish a company that holds a unique portfolio of well established brands, while simultaneously creating an innovative platform for young talents and emerging brands to effectively engage with the Middle Eastern and African markets. Martin's role as CEO sees him focus on delivering a diverse range of premium design products for the luxury hospitality industry, royal palaces, as well as high- end private residences. By leveraging his intricate knowledge of the local market, strong relationships and networks in the region, distributors and clients are continuously engaged and supported and NextSpace is rapidly growing. Together, the NextSpace team of nine has successfully completed 72 projects to date. Plans for 2022 include optimised shipping methods and a focus on sustainability, while continuing to support world-class and forward-thinking design partners revolutionising the market. Clients are engaged & supported 6Power 50: Top Suppliers 41 December 2021commercialinteriordesign.com Rachael Brown & Deepa Bhatia Co-founder and creative director/ managing director, Capsule Arts Rachael and Deepa are co-founders and jointly run arts consultancy Capsule Arts. Together they have built a growing team of dedicated professionals who deliver specialist knowledge of art curation and production, coupled with interior styling. As managing director, Deepa Bhatia leads the company’s operations and oversees project execution and delivery, while spearheading the sales department. Rachael Brown is creative director and leads the creative vision for the company’s brand, as well as overseeing research and development, while feeding into art curation and design on projects. Post-2020 Capsule Arts came back strong winning hospitality projects across the MENA region and strengthening their reach into Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Egypt. They were awarded three new Address Hotels in Bahrain, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia. They were also appointed to curate a series of new artworks for the Royal Commission of Al Ula's Airport Terminals. 2022 will mark their 10-year anniversary and is set to be a monumental year for Capsule Arts. Fit-out will begin on a new warehouse offi ce in Al Quoz, placing them in the heart of the art and design community. 7Power 50: Top Suppliers commercialinteriordesign.com December 2021 42 8 Sophie Kaila & Michael Ward Co-founders, TWO Art Consultants TWO Art Consultants is a boutique art consultancy based in the UAE, designing and producing bespoke art and accessories packages for high-end interior design projects Founded by Sophie Kaila and Michael Ward in 2019 with a heavy footprint in hospitality, commercial and residential sectors, TWO's expertise caters to all tastes and budgets, from traditional forms of art and sculpture through to installations, innovative surface design and decorative items. As creative director, Sophie designs and oversees art strategy and creative development of art narratives. As managing director, Michael leads business development, company operations and fi nance, alongside mentoring his team in successful completion of projects. TWO's curation at the DoubleTree by Hilton Dubai M Square Hotel & Residences resulted in the property being recognised as one of only nine Hilton properties worldwide to visit for its art alone. Last year also saw TWO expand into new territories, with its fi rst hotel in Africa; Sofi tel Cotonou, as well as strengthening its portfolio across the GCC – stand out projects include Th8 by House of Originals in Dubai, Conrad Residences Bahrain and The Fairmont Cairo in Egypt.Power 50: Top Suppliers 43 December 2021 commercialinteriordesign.com Lisa Sicre Founder & creative director, Lampshades Dubai Lisa has spent the last 30 years designing and creating products and the last four years as founder and creative director of Lampshades Dubai. She offers a unique opportunity to design and custom make lampshade features and lighting solutions to the interior design industry across all borders. Her multi-cultural background and her creative sense of style has led Lampshades Dubai to be the MENA region go-to company for hand made and custom made lampshades. As a result, 2021 has been a tremendous year of expansion with sales tripling leading Lisa to become the founder of a full fl edged lampshade design studio. The success story of this small start-up born in Dubai is the beginning of an ever-growing industry that Lisa established and will always be the founder of this industry serving an expanding niche market. Amal Barreto CEO, surface eleven Amal Barreto is a young, home-grown, female entrepreneur. Having a very clear vision of providing smart, sustainable and unique solutions to the world of interior design, Amal seeks to make the material selection process a fun and creative experience for every working professional. She started her company SURFACE ELEVEN in 2017 with just one solution for wood fl ooring and has now grown the company to 11 different categories of materials that make up an impressive portfolio. SURFACE ELEVEN has grown into a company that has slowly become an integral part of the A&D community, not only by its products and services, but also through its CSR efforts by headline sponsoring Surge for Water, an organisation focused on water conservation and hygiene in around the globe, and in collaboration with Collab materials library in d3 for an interior design competition with students. 9 10commercialinteriordesign.com December 2021 44 commercialinteriordesign.com December 2021 44 YOUNG TALENT 1 Reem Abou Khalil & Ornella Khattar Co-founder & design principal/co- founder & design manager Unit thirty6 Reem and Ornella co-founded the Abu Dhabi-based design consultancy that focuses on interiors and branding, in 2018. They oversee projects from concept creation all the way to project supervision and eventually handover. They are predominantly focused on retail, F&B and hospitality projects with a strong passion for creating new brands from scratch or assisting existing brands in revamping their image through new concepts. Throughout 2021, the duo successfully designed and handed over three F&B projects, a beauty concept, a commercial offi ce and a residential project, two of which were shortlisted for the 2021 Commercial Interior Design Awards. They also designed fi ve more F&B outlets that will be built and handed over in the coming months. Looking to the future, they both have a shared vision of growing their fi rm. After completing their current projects, they have plans to focus on working with start-ups in Abu Dhabi, as well as tap into Saudi Arabia's F&B and hospitality scene.Power 50: Young Talent 45 December 2021 commercialinteriordesign.com 45 December 2021 commercialinteriordesign.com Nadine Kassab Interior designer, Woods Bagot Ever since graduating, Nadine has proven to be an enthusiastic and an ambitious designer. She has so far worked on a variety of design projects that have equipped her with an impressive skill set for a young designer. She is a keen learner and is never afraid to take initiative and propose ideas. For her projects, she is most passionate about coming up with creative concepts and expressive narratives. Along with her passion for design, Nadine is an environmentalist who believes that sustainability should be at the core of all the design discussions. Nadine is a dreamer by nature, this means her goals and plans are always in action. Firstly, she is currently studying for LEED certifi cate and after achieving it, she will apply for WELL certifi cation too. Nadine considers herself lucky to be thriving in a nurturing and supportive environment. Being young is a strength and her team ensures her skills are honed. 3 Miriam Llano Marketing manager, Cosentino Miriam's role involves being the eyes and ears and the spokesperson of the brand in the region. She oversees Cosentino's Marketing & PR strategy and plays a pivotal role in shaping initiatives that will build closer ties with the design community. During 2021, Miriam continued to build brand awareness and engage the design community through a variety of regular value-based activations at Cosentino City Dubai, d3. She was instrumental in realizing Cosentino's debut Capsule Collection of furniture and home accessories, an initiative that served as a global model for other countries. Miriam also initiated Context Refl ections, a collaboration with ANARCHITECT for Dubai Design Week 2021. Cosentino's presence at Downtown Design 2021 and involvement at Expo 2020 also had her strategic input. Miriam aspires to grow in her role and take on the responsibility of more markets. 2Power 50: Young Talent commercialinteriordesign.com December 2021 46 5 6 Nuhayr Zein Architect, Agata Kurzela Studio Despite the challenging year that 2020 was to a young architect with only three years in the fi eld, Nuhayr managed to achieve a lot. While working a full-time job, she enrolled in a humanitarian architecture programme. Simultaneously, she designed, manufactured, and exhibited her fi rst furniture collection using her own material 'Leukeather' during Dubai Design Week 2020 and at Jameel Arts Centre. Following this, she was hand-picked by Sheikha Lateefa Bint Maktoum and Talar Bardakjian Creative director, ODG Talar has worked with some of the biggest names in the Travel Retail business, with her latest project being that of the 5,000 sq m Bahrain Duty Free, which opened in late 2020 and a 25,000 sq m mixed development government project in Ethiopia for the Mayor's offi ce, amongst others. From food and beverage projects across the region to retail stores in Europe and large scale corporate designs across Africa and Middle East, Talar is proving herself time and time again with pure talent and knowledge in the fi eld. Zahra Chowdhry Junior interior designer, Twentyone06 Zahra's colleagues call her the Swiss Army Knife of the company. She works on undertaking design projects from concept 4 5 Tashkeel's team to undergo a 12-months fully funded program to build a product using the vegan, sustainable and ethical leather alternative, which is made from biologically modifi ed dried and discarded pods. In 2022, she aims to integrate her work in material research with interior design projects at Agata Kurzela Studio. to completion. This includes all the phases of the design project, concept design, design proposals, FF&E organisation and sourcing and working with the technical team for construction drawings. Additionally, she is involved in digital marketing for Twentyone06 to create an online persona for the company to further develop the company image. As Twentyone06 expands, Zahra, who was awarded a golden visa for being outstanding university student, will move into middle designer position, managing more client facing time, understanding the running of the business and overseeing larger projects. Zahra will be a key part in the growth of TwentyOne06.Power 50: Young Talent 47 December 2021 commercialinteriordesign.com 8 Rana Aoun Interior designer, LXA Rana is an integral part of the LXA team. She is an extremely talented designer, with the ability to adapt her skill to each and every client request, from residential, commercial and hospitality projects. She has gained knowledge of interior design practices and has experience Christine Elias Design manager, Horton Interiors Hala AlSabouni Interior design manager, Ellington Properties Throughout the course of this year, Hala has worked on managing fi ve different residential projects that are currently at different stages in construction. The goal of each of those projects is focused on delivering a harmonious, one-of-a-kind experience for multi-family communities that cater to people's lifestyles and needs by providing modern homes and design that is both functional and aesthetic. This year she was successfully able 9 7 After graduating from university, Christine relocated to Dubai to follow her dreams. She started her career as an architectural intern and fi ve years became a design manager, thanks to her ambitions, sheer hard work and 'never give up' approach. In 2022, Christine would like to grow and explore by breaking design boundaries and taking Horton Interiors on unfamiliar grounds. She hopes to work and collaborate with industry leaders, expanding her knowledge and exposure, and thereby enriching her team. She has her sights set on making Horton Interiors an even more distinguished name in the design and build industry, through her designs and with peer support. and responsibilities pertaining to client interface. Her knowledge of the Gulf region and love of exploring new cultures has made for a very diverse sense of design. Throughout her career, she had the opportunity to work with local and international clients on several projects. She is ready to take her career to the next level, work on larger clients and to be exposed to new skills. She also sees herself being able to manage a small team within a larger company. Rana has a passion for hospitality design with a particular fl are for F&B. In 2022, she wants to develop her skills in this sector and become an expert. to boost her management skills by becoming more structured, well planned, and strategic during the process of coordination with different disciplines. As we are close to welcoming 2022, Tala aims to continue learning and growing her design management skills in the upcoming year and take on board more projects to diversify her portfolio.Power 50: Young Talent commercialinteriordesign.com December 2021 48 10 Laura Lee Interior designer, DLR Group Laura Lee's unique design journey shines with a life well-traveled. Her Latin American roots and architectural studies in Europe forged the foundations upon which she built her career in interior design here in the Middle East. Laura's designs often refl ect a level of sophistication and neutrality accented by colour and bold statements, paying homage to her cross-continental travels and experiences. Following several successful years at Opaal and Swiss Bureau, Laura Lee joined DLR Group Middle East Interiors in Dubai. She is an integral part of the DLR Group with special concentration given to mixed use and hospitality projects, the most recent ones being Abu Dhabi’s award-winning Jubail Island residences, mosques, community centres and Mangroves Resort. Her approach toward design revolves around forward-thinking ideas, fl exibility, and adaptability through the use of ergonomic solutions.WELL DONE! CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE ON OUR POWER LISTS! #POWER50 POWER 50 CONGRATS.indd 129/11/2021 15:13:06Next >