A unique carpet, inspired by the UAE’s mission to Mars, is set to be unveiled during the upcoming Dubai Design Week, as part of the event’s UAE Designers Exhibition 2.0. The rug, known as ‘Hala, Mareehk’, or ‘Hello Mars’, is the work of boutique design firm, Design Matter, and is the first piece from their sustainable furnishings collection, ‘Series of Hope’.
Setting out to craft a metaphor for conquering the unknown, the Design Matter team, led by business founder, Fabidha Safar Rahman, has brought together traditional and modern design concepts to create a contrast between two sides of the same coin: a side of nature and tradition, and one of modernity and innovation.
Explaining the journey from inspiration to creation, Fabidha said, “With so much to celebrate as a country, we wanted to curate all our emotions of pride, ambition, and hope into a product that recognises such a historic year for the UAE. We were inspired to commemorate the Mars mission by doing what we know best, design.
“Motivated by the feat, we took it upon ourselves to develop something that reflected the pride, the ambition, and of course, hope. Creating a designer rug that curates these concepts, we aimed to depict the journey from nature and humanity to modern technology and new ventures into the unknown. Fusing forms of fluidity with modernity, it is a metaphor for the UAE; a country deeply-rooted in its culture and traditions, while constantly evolving to new heights.”
Featuring free-flowing curves with linear forms, the design aims to characterise the natural lines of topography that meet with the final frontier of technology. A hand-like form wraps itself around the core of the rug, with the grey colour representing the unknown that is yet to be discovered. The final feature of modernity is inspired by the wings of the Al Amal Hope probe, while the gentle lines of yellow denote hope.
Reflecting the hope theme, the piece incorporates 15% recycled PET yarn, an innovative, sustainable method of reducing the impact of plastic bottles on the environment and reusing them in a constructive way. With 75% less CO2 emission than virgin polyester, PET yarn is a sustainable material that gives the luxurious look and feel of wool with no synthetic coating. The rug is the first piece in the Design Matter ‘series of hope’ collection, which aims to create unique, sustainable, and limited-release pieces, inspired by the UAE.
Having grown up in Dubai in the 90s and returning to the city after completing her interior design training in the US, Fabidha and her team have come through a competitive process to earn a place among the exhibitors at the UAE Designers Exhibition 2.0, being staged as part of Dubai Design Week 2021. Hala, Mareehk will be one of 25 pieces from local designers to feature in the Exhibition, which can be viewed at Downtown Editions, part of Downtown Design Dubai, from 8th – 12th November.
