Women in Design

Agata Kurzela

With over two decades of work in master planning, architecture and interior design, Polish-born Agata Kurzela has been delivering innovative and poetic responses to challenging and complex projects across the Middle East. Launching her eponymous design studio in 2020, Kurzela’s designs feature a blend of contemporary creativity, technological insight, and contextual awareness distinguishing her studio as one that sensitively aims to look at the social and historical context of each project. “Each project is sparked by a trigger – a person, an institution, a community, or a specific need,” explains Kurzela. “Our role is to understand that impulse and to learn everything we can about the fundamentals of the task and its context. We anchor the work in its cultural and spatial surroundings, uncovering the stories, material realities, and aspirations that give it meaning.” She transforms client briefs into functional, poetically engaging spaces across various disciplines, including product design, installations, interior design, and architecture. 

Her recent projects in Abu Dhabi signal a new direction for her practice. At the Zayed National Museum, Kurzela was entrusted with the creative direction, curatorship, and interior design across a wide constellation of public, VIP, and research environments. Treated as a spatial interpretation rather than an exhibition, the interiors she designed, including a series of interior spaces and bespoke furniture, express cultural identity and authorship and are rooted in ideas of time, ritual, and material memory. 

Collaborations with Emirati designers form a central layer of the work, ensuring that cultural expression emerges from within the project rather than being applied to it. She also designed a 780-square-meter F1 lounge located in the Shams Tower at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

A similar use of poetic sensitivity defines the adaptive reuse of Erth Hotel & Club, the former Armed Forces Officers’ Club originally designed by Roger Taillibert. Recognised as modern heritage, Kurzela’s interventions included restoring spatial coherence and reinforcing the building’s original geometric logic, while introducing new architectural and interior elements that resonate with its sculptural clarity and contemporary Emirati identity. kurzela.com

Dina Murali 

Copyright Alex Jeffries

Co-founder and design director of DZ Design, a Dubai-based architecture and interior design studio, Dina Murali is recognised for redefining luxury living across hospitality and multi-residential developments in the Middle East and Africa. Known for delivering environments that are both emotionally resonant and technically rigorous, under her creative leadership, DZ Design has completed numerous projects in the region, including the newly refurbished Pullman JLT, Gobi restaurant in The Ritz-Carlton RAK, a five-star ski resort in Azerbaijan, the Mövenpick Hotel in Dubai Healthcare City, and multiple residential towers in Business Bay and Mohammed Bin Rashid City. The studio’s award-winning work spans the hospitality and wellness sectors, including Amaseena at The Ritz-Carlton JBR, Sunny Wellness Spa in Sharjah Healthcare City, VEO gyms by Emaar, Semi-Sweet in Sharjah, and a series of high-end private villas, alongside large-scale commercial developments. “My primary focus is on designing spaces that genuinely reflect a brand’s values and tell a strong story,” says Murali. “With our recent expansion in Dubai and India, and growing opportunities in Saudi Arabia, we are ready to take on more ambitious projects.” Pushing the boundaries in hospitality design, Murali stresses that sustainability and innovation play an increasingly important role in today’s architecture and design landscape. dzdae.com

Hajar Altenaiji 

Abu Dhabi-based designer Hajar Altenaiji centers her creative practice on her Emirati heritage, aiming to bridge the gap between authentic heritage and contemporary design. With a vision to create products that tell the story of the UAE, Altenaiji established her eponymous firm Hajar Design Studio in 2018 to address a question: What if traditional techniques could speak to today’s world? Her design objects and interior projects stem from a desire to preserve the rich heritage of her country’s past while embracing the forward-thinking aesthetics of modern and contemporary design. “I dedicate myself to uncovering the cultural stories that live within objects,” explains Altenaiji, emphasising how she and her team “are cultural curators as much as designers, spending months in heritage sites, workshops, and community spaces.” 

In 2024, Altenaiji was the recipient of the Van Cleef & Arpels Emergent Designer Prize for a functional kite inspired by dhows, the traditional Emirati sailing boats. Most recently, she designed a sensorial installation for Ramadan in collaboration with French silverware brand Christofle. The contemporary installation comprises rich crimson paper fans and red mesh suspended elegantly over a refined table set with Christofle silverware and glass in the maison’s boutique in The Dubai Mall. Designed exclusively for Ramadan, the installation, in addition to fans, includes rich red coloured tassels suspended from the ceiling as well as seasonal fruits, verdant plants and florals and soft sculptural elements, symbolising generosity, abundance and hospitality for the Holy Month. “We wanted to reflect a table that was alive,” she explains. “Ramadan, for me, has always been about sharing. The table symbolises togetherness and reflects the depth of our heritage during Ramadan.” 

Interspersed throughout the store are several of Altenaiji’s minimalist falcon landing stands, also known as the Falcon Perch, which serve as elegantly sculpted pedestals made in authentic materials. “My design,” explains Altenaiji, “is about maintaining ‘the tangible and intangible heritage; the visual language of the UAE and the emotions it resonates.’”

Kristina Zanic 

Australian-born interior designer and founder of her eponymous studio Kristina Zanic Consultants, has over 35 years of global experience. With offices in Riyadh, Bangkok and the Philippines, Zanic specialises in luxury hospitality, commercial and residential projects. Zanic founded her boutique firm in Dubai in 2012 and is known for imbuing her design work with cultural and cosmopolitan flair, incorporating inspiration from her various travels around the world. Having lived in five countries and travelled to over 75 others, Zanic’s approach to design is one where local culture and identity is given precedence alongside a sophisticated, eclectic and contemporary aesthetic approach that merges luxury with functionality and cultural storytelling. Zanic’s award-winning projects include the Ritz Carlton Al Wadi Desert Resort in Ras Al Khaimah, Ritz-Carlton Al Hamra, the Domes Miramre Resort in Corfu, Greece and the St. Regis Red Sea Resort, among others. She has also designed the renovation of Jotun Paints’ Admin Office Building in Al Quoz, Dubai, endowing it with a modern a modern, functional and visually appealing workspace aligning with Jotun’s identity. Zanic believes spaces have stories. As she states, “Telling the story of the place and its people is a guiding principle.” kristinazanic.com

Maryam Karji & Raha Milani

Led by founders Maryam Karji, Managing Director and Raha Milani, Design Director, Dubai-based leading architectural firm archiSENSE Studio has gained a reputation for designing innovative and sustainable spaces across the United Arab Emirates. Established in 2018, the studio specialises in upscale residential, interior architecture and landscape design properties. Both graduates of the American University of Sharjah, Karji and Milani’s creative practice is rooted in the landscape and culture of the United Arab Emirates. 

Their design ethos centers on creating meaningful and coherent conversations between the natural landscape, architecture and interior design of their projects, with a focus on emphasising spaces that resonate with the occupant’s emotions and foster curiosity through immersive design experiences. “At archiSENSE, we approach architecture and interiors as a quiet dialogue between space, user, time, and experience – crafting homes that feel intentional, personal, and enduring,” explain Karji and Milani.

Design for archiSENSE is not aimed just at functionality, but about fostering spaces that act as catalysts for wonder, human connection and memory. Recent high-end residential projects in Dubai reflect this philosophy across multiple scales, from House R, a contemporary villa completed in 2025 and shaped as a sequence of transitional spaces that gently mediate between public and private realms through light, movement, and visual continuity, to House BJ, a majlis house in Umm Al Sheif overlooking Burj Al Arab, where a minimal and distinctly masculine language is derived from the client’s original floor plan and refined through clean lines, controlled volumes, and deliberate simplicity. 

At a larger scale, the Mansion House, a 75,000-square-foot private family residence, demonstrates the studio’s ability to maintain architectural calm within expansive volumes, remaining minimal and composed despite its scale. Together, these projects reflect archiSENSE Studio’s commitment to precise, timeless residential architecture shaped by intention, proportion, and lived experience.

Noelle Halabi 

As the newly appointed director of Architecture at Bluehaus, a TP Bennett company, specialising in architecture, interior design and MEP engineering, Noelle Halabi oversees the design of environments grounded in a sense of place, local culture, impact and wellbeing. Shaped by people’s everyday lifestyle, Halabi is drawn to architecture and design that feels intuitive, warm and inviting – structures where people wish to linger longer and return to. Such preferences inspire her own work, endowing her creative practice with a human-centric approach that aligns closely with the studio’s ethos. She approaches design through the lens of experience, believing that architecture is never just about physical space, but about how people move, feel, and connect. Spanning individual buildings to complex urban developments, she is particularly interested in projects where architecture, brand identity, and experiential design intersect. 

Described as empathy-led design, Halabi’s work includes hospitality, retail, and residential-led mixed-use developments where she can simultaneously activate a space with purpose while also building a sense of community. Among her recent projects in the region is the transformation of a legacy presidential suite into Nobu’s Rooftop Destination, a 405-seat luxury dining experience on the 22nd floor of Atlantis The Palm, through which she incorporated inspiration from Dubai’s coastal heritage and mythical allure of the lost city of Atlantis.

Pallavi Dean

Architect Pallavi Dean, founder of Dubai-based studio Roar, is known for transforming spaces through emotional sensitivity and data-driven research that focus on the human needs of the occupants. From designing luxury homes, government offices, barber shops and children’s nurseries in the UAE, over the last few years Dean has seen her practice go international, with new residential projects in Bali alongside a hotel in Rabat, Morocco, a 13,000-square-meter workplace in Frankfurt within a listed building, a Mumbai boutique for Jaipur Rugs and active projects across India, the United States and Saudi Arabia, including a museum and several large scale workplace environments. “I never want to talk about growth without talking about home,” says Dean. “The UAE is where the studio was built, tested, and refined. Right now, we are deeply involved in major government projects in Abu Dhabi, two schools in Dubai, and a growing portfolio of workplaces across Sharjah and Ajman. These projects have real impact because they shape how people work, learn, and move through their everyday lives.” Dean adds that being a woman-led studio is not something her studio “performs.” She says it is how they “operate.” This means by leading and creating with instinct, evidence, and by staying focused on delivering work that is “performative not decorative.” designbyroar.com

Pooja Shah Mulani

LW Design Ritz Carlton Masai Mara

As the Managing Partner – Creative at Dubai-based LW Design Group, a leading architecture and interior design firm, Pooja Shah Mulani has played a pivotal role in the firm’s transformation from a regional studio to a global hospitality design powerhouse. With an instinct and belief in crafting spaces that resonate emotionally, Mulani’s creative practice lies in blending strategy with authenticity and strong narratives, endowing spaces with human connection and emotion. “Design is like theatre,” she says, “every element must perform in harmony to create lasting emotion.” Her approach is immersive and intuitive yet firmly grounded in commercial reality.

At the heart of Mulani’s work is a belief that design must create emotional connection while delivering lasting value. In recent years, she has led the delivery of several landmark hospitality projects that reflect both the studio’s expanding footprint and her evolving creative philosophy. From the Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp in Kenya, marking LW’s entry into tented lodges, to high-profile dining and hospitality concepts across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, Mulani’s work demonstrates a deep sensitivity to place, a visitor’s experience and its operation and technology. Mulani is now focused on leading LW Design Group into new territories and typologies, including wellness-driven destinations, heritage-led restorations, and immersive hospitality concepts across Africa, North America, Europe, and Asia, creating spaces that richly resonate with people, places and a meaningful purpose.

Rabah Saied

As the founder and creative director of Styled Habitat, a Dubai-based full-service interior design studio, Rabah Saied is dedicated to crafting design that transcends the boundaries of material space to resonate culturally and emotionally with clients. A distinguished member of the American Society of Interior Designers, Saied is an American Sudanese designer renowned for her ability to craft immersive residential, commercial, and cultural spaces that captivate the senses and narrate compelling stories. Styled Habitat’s most recent projects include The Rug Company Bungalow on Al Wasl Road in Dubai, the company’s latest regional flagship showroom. For the design, Saied made sure to pay homage to the structure of the existing 1970s villa endowing it with a warm sense of continuity. Saied has also completed a new showroom and offices for Nordic Homeworx on Sheikh Zayed Road. A renovation and expansion project, the new spaces reflect the essence of Scandinavian design and is characterised by neutral tones, an abundance of natural light and authentic materials. 

Saied has become known for work that also challenges conventions. With each project she seeks to respect the historical context, architectural integrity and local nuance in the place in which Styled Habitat works. She recently told identity that her design philosophy can be defined as one that reflects tension between “understated elegance, sensual attraction and the warmth of belonging.” styledhabitat.com

Rania M. Hamed 

An interior architect and founder of Dubai and Montreal-based VSHD Design, a research-based architecture and design studio established in 2006, with over 20 years of Rania M. Hamed’s practice investigates the cultural, historical and social forces that shape spaces, positioning design as a tool for personal and collective inquiry and transformation. Her architecture and interiors possess a Zen-like, minimalistic simplicity, reflective of her continuous incorporation of Japanese design as a major source of inspiration.“I spend most of my time working with spaces – how they feel, how people move through them, and how design can shape their experience,” explains Hamed. “My work sits somewhere between architecture and interiors, but at its core it’s about creating environments that carry meaning, not just style.” Hamed’s work is also influenced by traditional Arabic housing and Brutalist architecture. 

Through VSHD Design, Hamed leads multidisciplinary teams across architecture, interior architecture, spatial design, and product design, delivering projects internationally across residential, commercial, and cultural sectors. Her work, informed by a contemporary form of minimalism defined by authentic, natural materials is defined by understated luxury, modesty and elegance. Notable projects include Soub, a new Dubai café filled with references to Sharjah brutalist structures dating to the 1970s; Moon Slice, an artisanal pizzeria in Dubai with a calming, neutral palette, and the recently opened, The Meld, a concept store in Jumeirah that repurposes a 1970s villa. Hamed says what she is always chasing is honesty in design: “using materials that tell their own story, looking at heritage without imitating it, and experimenting with ideas that feel unexpected.” vshd.net

Rita Estephan

Chief Operating Officer of Motif Interiors Rita Estephan represents a new generation of design leaders who work seamlessly within the creative and construction realms of interior design. Estephan joined Motif in September 2018 as a Senior Interior Designer. After working on several projects, she quickly moved ranks to Head of Design after which she was appointed Chief Operating Officer in November 2022, a role that allows her to continue to use her creative vision while also helping to shape the strategic future of the firm. At Motif Interiors, her portfolio spans government entities, healthcare institutions, aviation offices, headquarters, and retail environments. These include the Dubai Department of Economy & Tourism offices, American Hospital, The Emirates Library, ADIB Private Banking, and Socar’s LEED Platinum-certified headquarters. Estephan has overseen both traditional fit-out and fully integrated design and build projects. As Motif Interiors enters a new chapter, including the development of a 235,000 square-foot-joinery facility in Dubai Industrial City, the launch of a dedicated furniture e-commerce platform, and continued support of its sister company RR Properties, Estephan’s role is becoming increasingly strategic. Still, her focus and vision remain on strengthening and growing Motif Interiors’ design and build capabilities while ensuring each project strikes a balance between flexibility, economic intelligence and lasting sustainability.

Shaikha Al-Sulaiti

Doha-based multidisciplinary designer Shaikha Al-Sulaiti works at the intersection of cultural identity and contemporary expression. Through her conceptual platform, Imagining Utopia, she develops independent collections and curated collaborations that examine how objects can carry memory while remaining relevant to the present. For Al-Sulaiti, design is not simply about aesthetics; it is a means of preserving stories, translating heritage and proposing thoughtful new directions for Qatari creativity. With more than a decade of experience across luxury hospitality and cultural projects, her approach is grounded in research and shaped by close engagement with craft. Traditional references are not applied decoratively, but distilled into contemporary forms that feel measured and purposeful. Materiality plays a central role in her work, whether through subtle nods to regional techniques or through carefully sourced finishes that reflect her commitment to ethical and sustainable production.

Alongside her studio practice, Al-Sulaiti contributes to the wider design discourse in Qatar, supporting initiatives that elevate local talent and foster dialogue around innovation and authorship. International exhibitions and collaborations have further positioned her within a broader creative conversation, yet her work remains distinctly rooted in place. Measured rather than monumental, her projects reflect a belief that good design should resonate quietly but meaningfully – honouring heritage while allowing space for evolution.

Sumaya Dabbagh

For Saudi architect Sumaya Dabbagh, founder of Dabbagh Architects, architecture offers a means to connect people to the energy and cultural significance of a place. Following an education at Bath University in the United Kingdom, Dabbagh began her career in London and Paris during the early nineties. Her return to the Gulf region in 1993 was part of a quest to gain a deeper understanding of her own identity, a unique mix of influences and sensitivity towards both western and Middle Eastern cultures. In 2002, after completing the award-winning Childrens’ City Project while at Schuster Pechtold and Partners, Dabbagh began to carve her own path as an independent architect. Since then, she has completed a diverse range of projects, including commercial offices, retail, residential, educational, as well as cultural projects. Her timeless designs reflect themes of identity, memory and belonging, unveiled most recently at the newly reopened UNESCO-listed Al Ain Museum in the UAE town of Al Ain, which her firm renovated and extended. Her RIBA chartered studio, founded in 2008, has worked to reshape the Gulf’s architectural language with major projects, including Mleiha Archaeological Centre and Gargash Mosque, both Aga Khan Award nominees (2019 and 2021, respectively). Dabbagh believes that personal and collective memory can be shaped through architecture and design. Her work stems from a desire to historically and archaeologically preserve major landmarks throughout the region. Currently an elected chair for the  RIBA Gulf Chapter, Dabbagh continues to bridge cultural and gender gaps through her evocative architectural projects. dabbagharchitects.com