Aline Asmar d’Amman for Vogue Living Arabia, Spring/Summer 2022. Photo: Jeremy Zaessinger
Appearing on the cover of the fourth edition of Vogue Living Arabia, Lebanese architect and founder of Culture in Architecture Aline Asmar d’Amman opens up about her career journey with a tour of her latest project, the Palazzo Donà Giovannelli, home to the future, and first ever, Orient Express Hotel. “It’s like turning the pages of the precious book of time,” d’Amman says about her first hotel in Venice, for which she has embarked on a total renovation. “Venice is one of the rare places in the world where childhood fantasies still resemble a living dream in adult life,” adds the architect, who collaborated with the late Karl Lagerfeld on a collection of contemporary marble furniture, and led the renovation of the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. D’Amman is also the woman behind the renovation of the Eiffel Tower’s Michelin-starred restaurant Le Jules Verne.
Eva Cavalli. Photo: Francesco Dolfo
Continuing the celebration of Italian design, this month we spotlight the relaunch of Salone del Mobile 2022 after the Covid pandemic disrupted previous editions. Two Italian interiors are celebrated, notably, the home of artistic director, muse, creative, and wife of Roberto Cavalli, Eva Cavalli’s maximalist Florentine abode. Meanwhile in London, interior designer Sera Hersham-Loftus’s home, featuring an interconnecting enfilade of rooms in the capital’s Little Venice, captures the faded glamor of a palazzo on the Grand Canal.
Photo: Roberto Conte
From Italy to Arabia, but not with any less pomp and circumstance, shines the work of Designlab Experience. The creative studio based in Dubai and Riyadh, serves as a revered guardian of Arabist design and heritage in the industry, recently showcasing images of the Emirati wedding of the year between Her Highness Sheikha Meera bint Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Designlab Experience’s co-founder, Saudi architect Hibah Albakree reflects on her creative journey and on the resilience needed in the industry of creating outstanding immersive experiences. “My values are very Arab,” she proclaims. “It’s all about generosity.”
Heenat Salma Farm. Photo: Karen Dexter
In Qatar, we spotlight the Culture Pass Club. Founded by Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, in collaboration with Msheireb Properties and Whitney Robinson of DW Northstar, Culture Pass Club is a private, members-only community with 14 townhomes designed by leading names in art, fashion, and design including India Mahdavi, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Armani/Casa. In the Qatari desert, we explore Heenat Salma Farm, which implements a holistic mindset furthering real-life immersion and human connections.
Photo: Ankita Chandra
Receiving acclaim for his interior pieces, Iranian artist Taher Asad-Bakhtiari describes how he threads his DNA into a multitude of experimental designs, including rugs and repurposed oil barrels, which are owned by the likes of Beyoncé. Based between Dubai and New York, the innovator declares, “When I do things that allow people to question my creativity, that’s my aim.”
Bringing together the best of the worlds of fashion and decor, Vogue Living Arabia offers all the interior design inspiration to adorn your home, from wallpaper and interior decorative arts to trends and moods of the season, today, and for the months to come.
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