Fabidha S. Rahman’s dream of becoming an interior designer was fueled by the time she spent around her father’s design-build factories, construction sites, and client meetings after moving to Dubai in 1988.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in interior design from San Jose State University in California. She returned to Dubai after working with WESKE+associates, an architecture firm in San Francisco, and made a name for herself in healthcare, commercial, and residential projects. In 2017, she established Design Matter. In a short period of time, she transformed Design Matter from a one-woman army to an award-winning firm with a team of eight handling a diverse range of projects in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and India.

The practice has seen an increase in the number and size of projects over the last year, with multiple projects nominated for leading awards across the country.

Landmark projects – GJ, Hospital, Clinics This year, Design Matter designed three residential towers totaling 76 floors for the highly diversified local real-estate company, GJ Real Estate. They gave their brand a global and contemporary appeal to set it apart from the typical Ajman residential towers. As a result, their customer satisfaction skyrocketed, having a direct and positive impact on unit purchases and rentals.

In the last year, Rahman has led her team to complete designs for six clinics (38,000sqft) and luxurious transformations for two hospitals for global healthcare group, Aster DM Health- care.

Since 2020, her team has renovated 28 prestigious mansions on the Palm and Emirates Hills, including 16 in the last year alone. These designs and upgrades had a seismic impact on the vacation rental industry, breaking numerous rental records, as documented in local business publications.

Design Matter has worked on a variety of retail projects in 2022, from a flower shop to nutrition retail spaces. They collaborated closely with Dolce e Fiore to create a dynamic, multifunctional, and exciting space in Nad Al Sheba Avenue Mall. It blurred the lines between retail and F&B to create a lively space that became a community talking point.

Design Matter unveiled a bespoke designer carpet commemorating the UAE’s 50th year of independence and mission to Mars. It was displayed at Dubai Design Week 2021 and has been featured in major design publications around the world.

Design Matter is working on some exciting projects. She and her team are currently working on an 18,000-square-foot space for Wellth Wellness Center, Jumeirah by Aster DM Healthcare. The DM Team was given the opportunity to experiment with how to perceive holistic wellness in a space. Aside from that, current com- mercial projects include a new office space in JLT and a retail rebranding study for Aster Opticals.Design Matter is also working on six beachfront residential towers in Ajman for GJ Real Estate; a number of residential projects in Abu Dhabi, including a six-bedroom private villa and a high-end private apartment in JLT; and multiple luxury holiday villas in preparation for FIFA tourists.

Rahman’s leadership is focussed on diversifying into new creative ventures and visions. The Design Matter team challenges themselves to explore new avenues in the progressive movement towards futuristic technology as their clients incorporate increasingly sophisticated technologies into health- care and real estate.

Rahman is a technology enthusiast,having launched the NFTs of their product design and branching into opportunities in the Metaverse; exploring AI incorporated design software to enhance augmented reality experience for Metaverse clients. Another of her goals has been to use technology to make design more accessible to everyone. The Design Matter team has worked on a variety of value-added design packages for young professionals and start-ups, as well as researching AI-enabled technology to streamline client-designer interactions.

They intend to expand and target projects in North America, the Middle East, and India over the next five years. Rahman shares: “The ability to learn, evolve, and adapt makes this nation a resilient and forward-thinking role model. As business and real estate continue to flourish, I hope to apply these inspiring principles to our work and service and make Design Matter an environmentally-conscious, innovative contributor to the regional economy. Expanding our team has enabled Design Matter to take on a larger volume of work and still manage timely delivery. Long term collaborations with industry leaders in real estate, healthcare, and luxury travel to deliver multiple projects has rewarded our clients with tremendous growth.