Marco Maximus, Design Director, KEANE

Maximus leads the creative direction for hospitality, lifestyle, and cultural projects across the region at KEANE. His approach focuses on designing experiences and creating interiors that carry identity, emotion, atmosphere, and a strong sense of place.

His work often begins with a story: a cultural reference, a forgotten ritual, a material memory, or a moment of human behaviour. From there, the design develops into layered hospitality environments that feel distinctive, commercially relevant, and emotionally memorable.

Recent projects include ERTH at Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi, Club 71 in Dubai, Attaché 2.0 in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, and several hospitality and lifestyle destinations across the region. Alongside his work at Keane, Maximus is also the co-founder and creative director of Lazza, a Dubai-based bakery concept, and recently designed Tala, a cordless table lamp created in collaboration with Duni Lighting that debuted at 3 days of design.

Maximus was educated as an architect at Cairo University, where he was exposed to architecture, interiors, urban thinking, technical detailing, history, and the wider industry. “That gave me a very holistic way of looking at design from the beginning,” he shares. “But even then, I was never only interested in the building as an object. I was always drawn to what happens inside it: the atmosphere, the identity, the story, the materials, the way people move, and the way a space makes you feel.” Maximus also developed interests in branding, cinema, and storytelling. “The actual tipping point came when I moved to Abu Dhabi as an architect,” he shares. “I was asked to help with an interior design submission on the first day, and something immediately clicked. It felt natural, almost like I had been trying to get there all along. Soon after, I moved into the interior design team, and from that point, the direction became clear.”