picks and tips @dxb

picks and tips @dxb is a design blog run by dubai-based architect and designer, yousra shaher. launched early 2015, picks and tips @dxb founder has a unique angle on the industry as she promises her followers an enjoyable tour with series of meetups for different out and about creative businesses in the dxb. shaher will share the unique, inspiring and beautiful products, designs, places she visits all over the city with heavy focus on creativity, decor, textiles, interiors, innovative ideas and different cultural colourful inspiring and original designs. picks and tips @dxb blog is a unique world capturing by our designer's strong eyes the essence of effortless sophistication and beauty emerging in the dxb.

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and of course we couldn't miss the well-established brands, that were there as well, which downtown design a great event that cannot be missed. 

our favourite ones, where GUFRAM and MOROSO. gufram is a very bold innovative brand, yet stylish and trendy. we find it a trendy one, with very rich pieces that can turn your interior upside down. a playful mood is added whenever you have one of these lovely pieces around at your home, and guess what a SO kids-friendly designs.

Moroso showed its well-known POLTRONE chair, we loved the colour of the fabric which was perfectly matched with the TUAREG floor lamp by SWITCH MODERN.

www.gufram.it

www.moroso.it

www.switchmodern.com

#designdubai #interior #downtowndeigndubai #dxbdw  #moroso #gufram  #italy #trendyfurniture #funky #furnituredubai 

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our second stop was the mexican booth by A BIERTO DISENO, showing subtle yet lovely relaxed furniture, so simple yet very beautiful, we loved the chairs and the sofa by TRIBUTO, very slim lines, with simple light cushions, yet comfortable. the bamboo tables also were one of a kind, a simple unique design by EDICION JALAPA. 

the best thing about downtown dubai this year, is bringing lots of talents from around the world, we are lucky to have this nice exposure to these innovations and talents coming from far away. 

http://www.edicionesjalapa.com

http://www.tributo.mx/inicio

#downtowndesign    #interior #dubaidesugnweek  #dxbdw #furniture   #design #mydubai #Furnituredubai 

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we are in love with this amazing lighting, the LUMIO, achieving the best of design ethics, simple yet sophisticated.

simple since it’s really easy to use, charge even through your iPhone, it could be closed making it a mobile lighting source as well, yet sophisticated with its multifunctional use, could be opened up to 360 degrees, providing different forms.

tips: using a lot of them on your wall, with different positions can turn your wall into an outstanding one. a feature to the interior of your house. it is a beautiful design and the good news is, it’s quite affordable, if you are looking for a unique piece.

www.hellolumio.com

#downtowndesign #dubaidesignweek #interior #sanfranciscodesignweek #light

#mydubai#furniture#design-picks#Lumio#productdesign#dxb#dubaidesign district 

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our first stop, was the booth by SAN FRANCISCO DESIGN WEEK. simple but yet the most innovative of all, even that some of the exhibitors them are newly established, yet a great quality and breathe-taking designs.

list of the designers showing were:

1-galanter and jones

2-hellolumio

3-benwu studio

4-council design

www.sanfranciscodesignweek.com

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DOWNTOWN DESIGN 2015

and we are back after a long break, and how can we miss all the inspiring events popping around during the DUBAI DESIGN WEEK. 

and of course we payed a visit to the most amazing of all, DOWNTOWN DESIGN2015, which took place this year for the first time at the DUBAI DESIGN DISTRICT d3. a beautiful hub for all artist and designers, which we are sure will turn dubai to a design hotspot.

we picked for you our favourite designs, and as usual, we  are sharing all the details you need, to follow them, plus some tips from our side.

#downtowndubai #dubaidesignweek #d3 #dubaidesigndistrict #mydubai#design #productdesign #designpicks

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CHEERFUL COLOURS.. IT’S SUMMER TIME...

summer is about colours, not a fan of neon colours, then you can go for cheerful colours and they will last forever.

yellow, blue, red, green, orange...etc. introduce it to your interior of your summer house through:

1- tableware: glasses, plates, vases...etc.

2-pots

3-rugs

little cheerful accessories helps to sparkle it up and makes your interior cool.

we visited CRATE AND BARREL MOE, and what an nice colourful stuff they had, and one of our favourite things was the colourful small KILIMS, an amazing choice for summer house, you don't have to keep it dull with marble and ceramic floors, you can sparkle it up with these lovely light KILIMS.

tips:

WHY NOT layer them around?? for a bigger covered area, believe us that would be a stylish touch to your house, we LOVE them.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/Stores/mall-of-the-emirates/str566

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zoom in for more of our ROMANTIC PICKS for your SUMMER HOUSE, we picked from O DE ROSE.

http://www.o-derose.com

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zoom in for our pick for you ROMANTIC SUMMER HOUSE picked from: MOOD 

http://www.mood.ae

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our TIPS for your SUMMER HOUSE are still on. in continuation to the trendiest SUMMER HOUSE, following our simple plan of 3 steps:

1- rough finishes for walls and floors

2- simple and basic furniture 

3-  sparkle it with colours

the trendiest as we mentioned and shared through our latest picks, was of course the NEON colours. bur what if you are not a big fan, still you would like to have a romantic style for example, in a cool way.

STILL you can follow our previous three step plan, just go for romantic colours, like light blue, pink, not so bright green and yellow, and we promise you to get the look you need.

have a look at our ROMANTIC palette for you, with rough finishes, basic furniture and our PICKS from DXB stores that goes for a romantic style to sparkle up your interior.

picked from: ID DESIGN MOE, O DE ROSE, MOODS MOE and CITIES.

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more of our neon PICKS, are those simple accessories that can sparkle-up your coffee table, like chandeliers or plates..etc. 

ID DESIGN, mall of the emirates had a wide range of neon colours of these small stuff, and quite affordable as well.

we also loved that pendant light, with its bright colour from outside and textured surface inside, with the light inside and your rough walls, it could be a perfect catch. you can place two of them over a simple wooden dinning, with neutral coloured chairs around, our TIP is that, if you used that pendant, not to for for coloured chairs for the dinning.

http://www.iddesignuae.com

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our next stop, as we are still searching for neon coloured designs to sparkle-up your SUMMER HOUSE, was O’DE ROSE, on el wasel road.

we loved these neon heads, first time we saw them in MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2013, and we were really happy to see them in DUBAI. we prefer the wired ones, they have lots of colours and other animals as well. on a rough wall, believe us they will rock your interior. 

this shop holds a lot for genuine yet trendy stuff, one of our picks that matches our theme was these lovely small tables (tavolini), with their neon colour, and the calligraphy on it, turning it into a UNIQUE designable piece that we would love to have, and works perfectly for the trendiest SUMMER HOUSE.

http://www.o-derose.com

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and of course we stopped at one of our favourite showrooms, THE DESIGN SHOP, by SAUCE, as it always hold the most unique and trendiest stuff of all.

we found this neon stand-up lamp, and as you can see it fits perfectly with the rough wall behind and the basic coloured furniture around.

and what we really loved there, is the amazing collection they have for cushions and throws, with their sparkle of neon-colours.

http://shopatsauce.com

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going through dubai showrooms and furniture galleries, there were a lot of neon pieces that we PICKED  share with you, and some of them are really affordable.

starting with IKEA, affordable yet in, we found a lot of neon pieces that you can definitely add to your SUMMER HOUSE to sparkle it up.

from minor accessories like cushions, that you can through on your basic coloured sofa, yet grey with its shades is the most preferable colour here, mirrors with different colours that you can place parallel or diagonally on your rough wall.

to really nice funky chairs, where you can choose one, and place it in a corner with a side table or as a part of your living space, especially, if you have L-shaped sofa. or you can have two on your deck outside at the pool or in your terrace or garden.

they also have their small stools, but introduced this season with neon colours, which we really loved, you can put three on one side of your living ,or scatter them round your L-shaped sofa, using them as tavolini tables for your book, coffee..etc.

http://www.ikea.com/ae/en/

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AND finally we are back again, and as we promised, we will be sharing lots of PICKS and TIPS for SUMMER HOUSES.

you want to have the trendiest SUMMER HOUSE ever, here is our tips for it, just 3 steps and you are there:

1- GO ROUGH, create texture, meaning use rough finishes and textured ones for you walls and floor_ concrete, stone, bricks, unfinished wall, or the easiest just white bumpy paint. just go for it, and believe me they will add a lot to your interior. (first picture above: is a palette with different rough finishes)

2-GO BASIC AND SIMPLE, choose your big pieces of furniture, like your sofa, dinning table, console, buffet, etc., meaning the bulks to be simple design with modern lines and basic colours, grey, brown, beige, black, white.

3- SPARKLE IT UP, neon colours are the most trendiest now, and when it comes to SUMMER interiors, it works really well, just don't use it for bulk stuff, it could be used for accessories, cushions on a grey sofa, or dark blue, lighting, table leg, small tavolini or side tables, a chair, stool...etc .(second aboveis a palette showing how to use it, to sparkle it up, and how it matches with rough texture and basic furniture).

if you have a big SUMMER HOUSE, then you have the luxury of painting a wall with that colour, creating it a feature wall for you interior, like the staircase wall for example.

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we will be off for the coming two weeks_ and back with lots of  PICKS and TIPS from DXB stores and showrooms for your SUMMER HOUSE_ so stay tuned;)

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MORE FACTS ABOUT ECLECTIC STYLE...

-fabric and wall paper or covers, play a great role in defining your eclectic style, like the first picture, the wallpaper with its pattern, is very dominate, though the carpet and the chair are plain, it’s still not a contemporary style, or cannot be defined as a pure one, because of the wallpaper used, it’s considered an ECLECTIC interior, where you have the privilege of adding that eastern side table, and actually you can add more to it of different styles, still keeping the majority of the pieces contemporary, if you want to keep it CONTEMPORARY ECLECTIC.

-another fact is that although you mix up different styles, that doesn’t mean your favourite pieces get lost, on the contrary, the second picture for the second corner captured from THE ONE showroom, shows an ARABIC/ EASTERN eclectic style, where the dominants are the floor lamp and the tray, both with eastern reference, unlike the contemporary leather chair, still the eastern pieces, if they are considered your favourite picks ruled the eclectic style and showed up.

www.theone.com

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this week the style we picked is different, still it’s one that works for many of us, THE ECLECTIC INTERIORS...

WHAT IS ECLECTIC?  

as a word it means, deriving ideas, taste from a board and diverse range of sources. 

it’s always difficult to get a variety of things to be mixed up together and still remain a one piece of a design style. and that’s why ECLECTIC style is good sometimes, especially for people who doesn't favour one style, or like classical styles and designs wether eastern or western, and like mixing them together. so being ECLECTIC, would be the best then.

STILL ONE TIP, so as not to mess it up. it’s always better to mix up stuff with different styles, but still try to keep the majority related to one of these styles so it can come out as: 

-CLASSICAL ECLECTIC

-ARABIC/ EASTERN eclectic

-ECLECTIC CHIC. where you can mix eastern and western styles, and here the majority that role your eclectic style, is the classical designs from both sides that you picked and that’s why it’s CHIC.

-CONTEMPORARY ECLECTIC. 

-MODERN ECLECTIC.....etc

our stop this week was THE ONE, it’s well known to lots of people living in dubai, and i consider it one of the best, when it comes to ECLECTIC style. and i always recommend going to its main branch in dubai, the one on jumeirah beach road, best and wider collection, from where we shared the two pictures above, an example of CONTEMPORARY ECLECTIC style.