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Growing up in Dubai, Mihir Sanganee truly is a product and reflection of this region. His functional yet striking style and the delivery of a great customer experience at Designsmith has helped them sail through the pandemic and grow their client base.

Completing his Architecture degree at KRVIA, Mumbai, Sanganee spent the majority of this early-career on-site – overseeing the quality of the work being delivered. He combined this practical experience with his personal design capabilities and created his studio, Designsmith. Sanganee says: “Designsmith is my passion project, the team is my family and delivering an exceptional design solution is what we strive to do in every single project. We don’t do boring.”

2020 was a remarkable year for the studio as they didn’t lose steam with their projects and used the opportunity to reflect and eventually grow their team further. A renewed focus with a larger team helped Designsmith further enhance their quality as well as pace on current projects.

Gradually building their foundations for the last 7 years, Sanganee’s team completed and successfully delivered more than 30 projects last year, ranging from 1500sqft single unit lofts to commercial projects such as the award-winning “The Bowl One” outlet in DIFC and the hailed InnerFight gym in Studio City.

During the pandemic, Sanganee also supported fellow business owners and friends in pivoting the way they do business with strategic advice and support. With these regular virtual coffee sessions, experts from different industries helped SMEs break down their business hurdles and offered cross-functional actionable insights and solutions to these issues. In his personal life, he found the travel restrictions and social distancing guidelines to be the perfect excuse to finally explore the great outdoors of the UAE with plenty of hiking, trail running, and camping experiences with his wife and rescued dogs.

2021’s focus has been on extending their services to the clientele in Africa and as one of the few one-stop-shops in the region for architecture, interior design, furniture, joinery and fit-out, Designsmith is a preferred partner for residential and commercial projects of all scales. Their in-house Design & Build solutions offer a seamless, hassle-free experience for their clients.

This year is already off to a strong start with the team actively pitching and steadily growing and now stands at 15 members along with their 300+ strong in-house build team. Designsmith is currently expanding their studio in Al Quoz to a large, experiential hub for clients to immerse their senses in a world of locally and internationally-sourced finishes, materials samples, décor and design options. They aim to be the largest single destination in the UAE bringing together incredible designers and high-quality vendors, keeping client satisfaction as a key priority always.