id50 2025 – Omar Al Gurg

Can you let us know about the latest exciting projects that you are working on? 

Right now I’m working on our new show villa/ majlis. I hope to have a new community space where I can host other creatives, and be able to develop the sort of environment that influences people to be able to share their ideas more freely, without judgement. Sort of like a build up of what we had previously, but more coworking friendly.

Can you talk about a type of project that you would like to take on in 2025 that would interest you and your team to pursue (dream project that you would like to manifest)?

For 2025, the team and I are going to be crafting smaller products that are more space friendly. We went all out in the previous years with articles that are large and in charge, so now we want to create something just as playful, but more fun sized for people to be able to enjoy. A dream project for this year would probably have to do with setting up a one stop hub for people to be able to approach us and design objects that push our limits in terms of material use. I’d love to get to know what people are developing with all the technology that we have in today’s world.

How would you describe your design philosophy?

Our motto has always been “Get Personal”. As a studio we want to create articles that are super interactive, because we think that the more you interact with your belongings, the more you develop a sentimental relationship with them. Another philosophy we have is that we always try to design to solve certain inconveniences, that makes for thoughtful design that becomes interactive in return. Always design for things that you need, and never add anything that is unnecessary just for the sake of decoration.

As this is the power issue, what empowers you and your team?

I think what empowers me the most is to be able to keep learning, and knowing that no matter how much time we spend in the field, we’re not always considered to be experts here. There’s always room for growth, and that to me is very empowering. Even with regards to the team, I feel that if there’s a continuous amount of learning that happens, it keeps things exciting, which is what we want as people. When we stop learning, we stop pushing ourselves to be the best we can be.

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