\u201c<\/strong>We spend about 86 percent of our time indoors, maybe 95 percent now with COVID, so I thought if I really wanted to make an impact, interiors would be the best fit.\u201d Dean grew up in the UAE to Indian parents and has a British husband. \u201cI always think these are the three cultures that have really collided to shape me as a designer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nInterior Design: The design scene in Dubai has grown very fast. How has it changed from its beginnings? And what does Dubai offer that other design destinations don\u2019t?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nPallavi Dean: In the 1960s we were just a desert fishing settlement and now we have the world\u2019s tallest building, so that speaks a lot about the leadership and ambitions of this tiny little country that didn\u2019t want to just rely on oil money or tourism. The UAE has always been seen as an importer of design but now I feel like we are starting to become an exporter of design. Last year at Milan Design Week I designed a light for Italian brand Artemide, it felt like a major moment. Often when you think of Dubai you think of the biggest, the boldest, and the fastest. But there are designers doing very mindful and meaningful work here. And because we live in a very harsh climate we try to create designs that are contextual. What might work in the U.K. or in New York doesn\u2019t necessarily work here and I think we are starting to define that.<\/span><\/p>\nID: One of your recent projects was the redesign of an iconic Levantine restaurant in Dubai called Mezza House. You based the design on the geography, colors and plants of the Yarmouk river valley.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nPD: Whether it\u2019s a restaurant, a light, or a nursery, we always start with a question: what is the design problem? And with Mezza House the design problem was that the market is oversaturated with Levantine restaurants so we had to differentiate it from the others. We chose to make it unique by focusing on our client\u2019s heritage and giving it a connection with nature. We did a lot of research into what flowers you find in the Yarmouk valley and suspended them in blooms from the ceiling\u2014creating that really strong narrative is what sets it apart. <\/span><\/p>\n