Terracotta dreams

Meshary AlNassar’s homey studio is a reflection of his mission to spearhead a new interior design revolution in his home country of Kuwait

- AIDAN IMANOVA

Set inside an abandoned nursery on the coast of Kuwait City, overlooking the Arabian Gulf, is designer Meshary AlNassar’s studio, which he renovated to feel more like a relaxing home than a traditional working space – a direction which AlNassar feels is becoming more prominent (“I think office designs are dramatically breaking away from the corporate structure and more into open collaborative plans that are zoned using furniture instead of walls and barriers,” he says). Spread across the top floor of the former nursery, the open-plan studio is inspired by the hues and textures of terracotta clay and mud and dressed with ornaments from the Arab world, while staying true to AlNassar’s signature minimal approach to design that is present across all his projects – be that interiors or furniture and products.

“I wanted to create a very welcoming space for my clients to enjoy,” AlNassar shares. “[By breaking] the rigidity of what a design or architecture studio in Kuwait looks like, we [created] a home-like plan where a chain of rooms are interconnected through hallways and entryways.”