Dubai welcomes a Nada Debs store in Alserkal Avenue, a milestone for its visionary founder and creative director. Renowned for championing craftsmanship, culture and beauty, Debs did not set out to build a brand; her path unfolded naturally. “I grew up in Japan, studied interior architecture at Rhode Island School of Design and only took one furniture design course, so it wasn’t my focus initially,” Debs recalls.
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Her time in the Asian country, where she saw craftsmanship as an elevated art form, shaped her approach. Later, a trip to Damascus revealed that while Arab craftsmanship was beautiful, it did not fit into contemporary lifestyles. “I naturally felt compelled to transform that craft into something more minimalist,” she says. Debs creates pieces such as sculptural seating, mother-of-pearl inlaid furniture and statement lighting that preserve cultural identity in a modern way. “Most of my designs have a story; sometimes people can feel it and sometimes it needs to be explained. I can’t do anything without having a meaning,” she notes.
As political and economic uncertainty grew in Beirut, Debs started finding ways to safeguard her artistry. That’s when her Dubai-based son Tamer approached her about expanding the brand and opening a store in the city. “It didn’t occur to me to leave a legacy, to pass on this business to the next generation,” she admits as she gets emotional. “This is how it all happened. It’s his baby, and we’re hoping that this is the beginning of a global expansion.”
At the grand opening, Debs unveiled the Palma collection, which draws inspiration from the majestic scale of the palm tree and intricate art of handcarving. Recognising the importance of gifting in regional hospitality, Debs sought to celebrate this tradition. “Most of our objects are what people would like to gift,” she explains.
Community lies at the heart of the designer’s new space, though shaping its atmosphere was no easy feat. “It’s a long, narrow metal box with high ceilings. It took me a year to design it so that it feels welcoming and cosy,” she reveals. True to her creative nature, Debs used her love for natural materials and placed a wooden box inside with a lower ceiling. “It’s like a womb,” she adds. Upstairs, atop the box, is a gallery and studio, where she was more accepting of a high ceiling and exposed pipes.
The founder and creative director describes the space as a duality that aligns with the brand’s new identity and two-dot logo. The sense of being an Arab with Japanese sensibility and working with a traditional craft in a modern way is everywhere. It’s a blend of Asian minimalism and Middle Eastern repetitive geometry rooted in a vintage Beirut studio, expressed in a contemporary Dubai boutique and carried by a mother-son duo working together. Opposite forces, working side-by-side.
Debs’s goal for her Dubai store is to welcome people rather than intimidate them. “When people buy a piece, I want them to feel the pride in our culture and identity,” she concludes. Mission accomplished.
