A hybrid hotspot

Family ties

Filmmaker sisters Amirah and Wafa Tajdin pay homage to their grandmother through the design of a new social space, Lulu & The Beanstalk

WORDS BY AIDAN IMANOVA PHOTOGRAPHY BY JALAL ABUTHINA

Amirah Tajdin describes Lulu & The Beanstalk – a new café, bar and bookstore located in Dubai’s ICD Brookfield Place – as a “celebration of colour”. She also uses the terms “spiritually wild” and “rooted in nature”. These words were the brief given to Swedish design practice Bofink Design Studio by Amirah and her sister Wafa, who are both filmmakers (Amirah is a director and Wafa, a producer). The sisters had worked together for over a decade when the pandemic’s effects on the film industry hit hard, allowing them to forge a new chapter in their career as storytellers.

Amirah and Wafa were born in Nairobi, Kenya from a Swahili-Omani background, where hosting has always been a sacred act of service – and it is something they have been known for among their social circle. So naturally, opening a restaurant had always been part of their ‘one day business’ dream.

“We felt that the city needed a space where you could have a great cup of coffee, some cosy food and a great cocktail in a relaxed yet chic atmosphere,” says Wafa. “A ‘come-as-you-are’ spot that didn’t have snobby hostesses or loud music. And so, in honour of our grandmother, Mama Lulu, and our nostalgia for how we felt when we used to hang out with her at her house, mixed in with a gap in the market for an elegant ‘dive bar’, we came up with Lulu & the Beanstalk.”

Yet it is Mama Lulu who is the main source of inspiration for the space: “She was a brilliant storyteller even though she couldn’t read or write, [and] a legendary cook in the community,” Wafa describes. “She was escapism personified in a person…[and] so we tried to package that sense of cosy escapism into the space. She wore a lot of colour as well, and that became a cornerstone of the design and what we wanted people to experience.”

Meeting Jenny Askenfors – the founder and lead designer of Bofink Design Studio – was “divine intervention from Granny”, the sisters say. They felt an immediate synergy between the Swedish studio’s work and their own vision for the space. “The fact that it was a woman-owned [company] was also important to us, as we wanted to bring in a sense of feminine strength that Mama Lulu evoked – curves, colour, nature and a bold spirit. Jenny and myself immediately found a lovely sense of kinship in our aesthetic inspiration and imagination – it was a very natural flow between us, and she brilliantly took my moodboard and elevated [it] into something wild and incredible,” Amirah shares.

The open yet intimate space offers a dream-like atmosphere with its whimsical furniture pieces, floating library and rammed-earth detailing, all referencing the nature and colours of Lamu Island, where Mamu Lulu was from. “There’s a minimalism to our architecture that was a direct reference to the island’s signature style,” Amirah describes. “[Inspiration from] nature came next, as Mama Lulu was an avid gardener and had favourite papaya and avocado trees in her garden.”

The bold selection of furniture solidifies the space, while giving it a playful ambiance. At the centre of the room, adjacent to the bar, is a green Verner Panton Cloverleaf sofa, while at the back of the café – surrounded by a small library – is a mocha de Sede DS-600 sofa. A custom handcrafted chandelier by South African artist Adam Hoets anchors the space. Other notable pieces include a recycled Meltingpot table by Amsterdam studio Kooji, with Japanese artist Yuko Nishikawa’s lamp hanging above it.

While natural rammed-earth walls were structurally difficult to build in the space, the designers opted to recreate a rammed-earth wall, completed by a team of locally based artisans and Amirah herself. Finally, for the bathrooms, the brief was to fashion a “dreamy portal into another dimension”.

“Our ceiling took forever to get right due to the curves and playing with colour,” says Amirah. “[It] was a delicate process [but we wanted to] ensure that it always felt wild and magical. id

Into the blue

From turquoise to navy and everything in between, this month is an homage to all things blue: including Marli's gender-neutral UNII collection, 3D-printed vases from Sheyn and a denim take on a Bottega classic

UNII collection Marli New York Available at marlinewyork.com

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1. Fald vase by Sheyn. Available at ssense.com 2. Tulip candle holder by Laetitia Rouget. Available at thatconceptstore.com 3. Teen Jodie intrecciato suede bag by Bottega Veneta. Available at selfridges.com 4. Agata cabinet by Alexander Lamont. Available at thecollectional.com 5. Horizon vide pouche by Nada Debs. Available at nadadebs.com 6. Swinging ceramic coffee mug by HKliving. Available at thebowerycompany.com

Fashioning design

Published by Rizzoli, this new book explores the works of UK product designer and brand Lee Broom, who has created over 100 furniture and lighting pieces since 2007

WORDS BY KARINE MONIÉ

“I consider myself a storyteller and have always designed emotionally since my time in fashion,” says designer Lee Broom. “It’s visceral, but balanced with a focus on materiality, form and function. It is also about the double meaning in my designs and the reinvention of what is familiar to create newness. The idea is of almost fashioning design and evolving what exists already into something new and unexpected.”

Written by Becky Sunshine with contributions from Vivienne Westwood, Kelly Wearstler and

Christian Louboutin, Fashioning Design: Lee

Broom explores the fascinating creative world of a designer whose background includes being a child actor and winning a fashion design competition at the age of 17. In 2007, Broom launched his eponymous studio and brand, and since then he’s designed hundreds of pieces of lighting, furniture and accessories that are usually presented in immersive installations and exhibitions.

“Ultimately, what Lee designs is not just a lamp or just a chair, but an object created with a unique character of its own,” writes Stephen Jones in the book’s foreword. “Each of the pieces he designs are almost like his children, gently nurtured and formed, carefully considered and constructed with precision but then let go to do their own thing in the world.” Divided into four themes, the book delves into Broom’s influences and creative process.

Having grown up in England’s West Midlands, where he was surrounded by “postmodern era buildings with pitched roofs, faux-Roman pediments [and] columns topped with spheres”, as he describes, Broom is particularly interested in architecture and draws inspiration from the Art Deco movement, Brutalism and 1970s Italian design.

The chapter ‘History Repeats Itself’ is dedicated to how old techniques can inform the future. “I’m interested in the emotion generated by design that places one foot in the past and one in the present,” he says. “That’s certainly something I picked up from my time with Vivienne [Westwood].”

Readers also learn about Broom’s making process and his collaboration with the people who transform his designs into reality, as well as his experience in theatre and fashion and their impact on his design approach today.

“I first noticed Lee’s work during Salone del Mobile, and I was struck by the experiential nature,” remembers Kelly Wearstler in the book. “I have Lee’s Split mirror in my home, which is a talking point due to the unusual ‘sliced’ nature of its design. It is a work of art, and I believe that any design that can create such a dynamic visual interest in a room while complementing it is a future classic and a testament to its designer.”

Photography by Marcus Tondo

Left : Spread from Fashioning Design: Lee Broom by Rizzoli. ‘Salone del Automobile’ - Milan Design Week 2016. Optical pendant lights

Lee Broom ‘Park Life’ exhibition, Australia 2019. Lens Flair in brushed brass and Lens Flair in matte black

Photography by Craig Wall

‘Kaleidoscopia’, London Design Festival 2019 Lee Broom Orion lights in polished gold

The To-Tie collection of table lamps reflects its name, which refers to tying or fastening something. In this spirit, the lamps are constructed using three simple elements – a cable, a bar and a cylinder - that together become a physical translation of designer Guglielmo Poletti’s research into structural tension. Poetic in its simplicity and rigour, the table lamp is reduced to its bare essentials in the spirit of the Castiglioni brothers and the Flos philosophy.

To-Tie by Guglielmo Poletti for Flos