Nada Debs on mentoring emerging UAE designers: 'Furniture mirrors us. It should mirror who we are'

Good design, for Nada Debs, is about finding an equilibrium between experiments and function, poetry and commerce.

The Lebanese furniture designer is known for blending traditional Middle Eastern craftsmanship with contemporary design.

And as mentor of the UAE Designer Exhibition at this year’s Downtown Design, she is keen on helping the emerging talents translate local identity through craft while keeping them conscious of market realities. It is what will ensure, she says, longevity as a designer.

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And the best way to do that is to “pick one thing that becomes associated with yourself", Debs says.

Drawing from local inspirations has always been a hallmark of the UAE Designer Exhibition. A staple of Downtown Design, the annual platform is dedicated to bolstering designers living in the UAE, many of whom are bringing new twists to local materials and traditions.

Several works this year are leaning into that ethos. Ranim AlHalaky is presenting free-standing room dividers that blend palm fronds and wood with lines of metal text containing fragments of poetry and oral storytelling.

A plant-supporting wall system inspired by the UAE’s salt flats, or sabkhas, is being presented by designer group Hala Alkhrishi, Hala Naser, Amira Hisham, Marim Sorbi, Tania Ursomarzo and Iman Ibrahim. Meanwhile, Roudha Alshamsi is taking cues from the patterns winds draw in sand for her luminaire Athar.

Majid Al Bastaki’s Bo Nakh-La is a coffee table inspired by the old steel doors of the UAE. Elisabeth Muculan has conceived of a room installation based on photographs of a traditional Emirati house in Al Shindagha Museum. Shaikha Al Tunaiji’s Al Makabah Collection refers to the cone-shaped Majba, traditionally made from palm fronds and reimagined as boxes to serve dates and sweets.

In short, there is a strong sense of local identity in the exhibition this year.

“All of them have a story to tell,” Debs says. “Over the past few years, the diversity of styles and objects has been really good, and all of them have, at least, a strong concept.

“I love the UAE designers themselves. They are quite strong because they want to push their identity. All of them have touched upon some kind of craft and, as an adviser, I would say push that and make it your identity.”

Idiosyncrasy, she says, is what will help emerging designers stand out. Mining from tradition is one way, but designers can also find themselves through aesthetic means, Debs says, referring to works by Mary Claire Kirwan, who uses discarded objects to make vibrant and bold furniture pieces. Inspiration could also be found in unlikely places, as Nourhan Rahhal, who has made a furniture collection inspired by the French dessert mille-feuille and its stacked layers, demonstrates.

“It’s really cute,” Debs says. “It’s beautiful, the layering, and I would push that more. It’s an idea of mixing ceramics with wood. What else can you do with it?”

Debs says there has never been a more rewarding time to be a designer in the UAE, particularly those making bespoke products for homes. Much of this can be attributed to the country’s new long-term residency programmes, including the golden visa, which have encouraged more people to put down roots.

“A few years ago, furniture was not something that people really cared about,” Debs says. “They were more interested in jewellery, fashion, you know, watches and cars. But now that you have the golden visa and long-term living, it has shifted the mindset. I think people are now much more interested in their home. And they're shifting away from beiges and greys, and are willing to look at furniture as art in a way.”

It is particularly through accent pieces – light fixtures, coffee tables, side tables – that designers can attract attention and express individuality.

“A lot of the pieces in the UAE Designer Exhibition, these are really nice accents. They are an extension of our identity and we love to live with something that looks like us. Furniture mirrors us. It should mirror who we are.”

The exposure the UAE Designer Exhibition can give emerging talents can be life-changing, provided the opportunity is seized with sharp business acumen. To conceive of an effective and captivating design is one thing, but awareness of production costs, marketability and audience reach is what makes or breaks most designers.

“If you really want to design, you need to reach an audience. You need to sell,” Debs says. “It's a terrible side of the business of design, but it's a necessary one. I come from a business family and because of that, I had that background. But a lot of designers don’t have that background. They need guidance.

'Some of the designers don’t know how to structure the company and accounting and shipping and sales and production and all of that. It helps structure the business so that you can actually really focus on design.”

Downtown Design is running between November 5 and 9 at Dubai Design District (d3)