Pallavi Dean's debut collection of furniture, Tension, was born out of that most fundamental of questions: "Who am I?"
Dean, who founded Dubai-based interior design firm Pallavi Dean Interiors in 2013, is of Indian descent, but has spent most of her life in Dubai. “I’m Indian, but never lived in India; the UAE is home, but I’ll never be Emirati; my family is British, but at Heathrow [Airport] I have to stand in a separate queue.
“Thankfully, as I get older, I’m coming to terms with this. Whereas I used to get really negative and angry, now I see it in a much more positive light – how lucky I am to have this rich, vibrant, diverse background,” she says.
This multiculturalism has been instrumental in shaping Dean’s design identity, and is something she now refers to as “her inner design mentor”. So it made perfect sense that when she came to create her first collection of furniture, the idea of tension, in its various forms, would emerge as an overriding theme.
The collection will make its official debut at Downtown Design on October 25, but The National was given a sneak preview of the six pieces, which are an artful, thought-provoking, deeply personal juxtaposition of Dean's key cultural influences.
Indian rituals are referenced in elements such as the ghanta, or prayer bell, on which the base of the Bell chair is modelled; Emirati nuances are most obvious in the material palette, which includes camel leather and fur, hand-picked from a tannery in Al Ain. Dean’s Britishness, meanwhile, can be spotted in her selection of supple, tactile materials, such as English sheepskin, as well as lesser-known but overtly British design elements.
The Svagata console, for example, makes reference to the traditional reception granted to guests in Indian homes, where incense burners or candleholders are presented on an oversized thali, or plate; but the piece is also a nod to the extravagant consoles in the homes of newly minted millionaires during the British industrial revolution. Borrowing the idea from their Italian and French counterparts, wealthy Brits of the time placed these consoles in the entrance halls of their homes, as an obvious and immediate symbol of their wealth and stature.
Translated by Dean, the vertical Svagata consists of a black marble base, with a rod of black wood extending upwards. An adjustable, pivoting mirror extends out at eye level, while a rose gold thali has been placed midway up the rod. As pared back as the design may appear, it’s highly functional in its intent – there are pegs to hold a laptop bag or scarf, the thali doubles as a holder for keys and a phone, and the mirror offers a last-minute opportunity to check your appearance before you dash out of the house. The piece comes with a matching pouf crafted from camel leather upholstery and a black wooden base.
Other highlights from the collection include the Samagree lights, which have been produced in collaboration with Czech lighting company Preciosa and come in two iterations. The first is Positive, a sphere consisting of three layers of glass. When switched on, the lamp projects “samagree”, the Sanskrit word for “content”, onto the floor. Negative, meanwhile, consists of a single sphere suspended within an oversized ring.
While Dean’s skill as a designer is evident in each of the pieces, it’s Mezan, or Seesaw, that highlights the inherent playfulness of her work. The piece symbolises the collision of conflicting forces, pushing and pulling in different directions – but also, ultimately, balance. Handcrafted by Indian carpenters and metalsmiths in Sharjah and Ajman, this grown-up take on a playground favourite combines camel-leather upholstery with gold accents.
The piece can be seen to represent Dean’s acceptance of her own inner tensions and an answer, perhaps, to that initial question: “Who am I?”
“Cultural tension is giving way to cultural balance, which is where the final piece in the collection – the Seesaw – gets its inspiration and its name,” she says.
In practical terms, how different was it to design furniture, as compared to spaces, I ask? “Radically different,” Dean says. “On a purely physical level, scale. Interior design and interior architecture are large scale – as a designer you spend most of your time zooming out to look at the bigger picture. Furniture, by contrast, is very small scale. I love that – I get to zoom in and be obsessive about tiny things.
“More broadly, one of the things I’ve loved about creating Tension is that I’m not seeking anyone’s approval. As an interior designer, you’re never allowed to forget that you’re a consultant being paid for professional services. You’re constantly seeking approval: from clients, contractors, municipality regulators, even awards judges. By contrast, this range is like painting a picture or writing a song. It’s very personal. I hope people enjoy the pieces, and relate to the emotions they represent. Ultimately, though, they’re for me.”
sdenman@thenational.ae
