The British European Design Group's launch of the first Contemporary British Design Contingent at Index Dubai 2006

Ever since the overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception of ‘Visions of Beauty’ the inaugural British design exhibition in Dubai in April 2005, Dubai has been firmly put on British European Design Group’s agenda of ‘The place to be’. ‘Visions of Beauty’ with the attached seminar series was the result of an invitation by the organisers of Ambiente Arabia to Karin-Beate Phillips, Founder/Director of the London based multinational and multidisciplinary British European Design Group to curate an exhibition showcasing the best of British creativity in the luxury interior design sector.

One year later, now supported by United Kingdom Trade & Investment, the British European Design Group makes its debut at Index Dubai 2006 with a platinum contingent of British companies and studios, who rank amongst the most highly awarded businesses in their specific sectors of interior design producsts and services.

Companies like the Glasgow based textile studio TIMOROUS BEASTIES with their luxury ranges of screen printed home textiles, wallpapers for interior design solutions have collected more prestigious international design awards for their inspired collections than any other UK company of their size. They were also among the last four contestants for the British Design Award in 2005 with a subsequent exhibition at the Design Museum in London. Their international client list which includes commissions from major museums, architects and interior designers as well as private commissions. Both ALISTAIR MCAULEY and PAUL SIMMONS also work as design consultants for leading global textile manufacturers in keeping with the centuries old Scottish tradition of innovation in textiles and fibres.
TIMOROUS BEASTIES www.timorousbeasties.com

LORRAINE STATHAM is LOOPHOUSE, a rug and carpet design and manufacturing studio that serves clients from the British Museum in London to the Guggenheim in New York with specially designed carpets and rug ranges. Educated at Kidderminster, the UK’s only specialist college for carpetmaking, Lorraine Statham combines the profound technical know how of her craft with the creative spirit of the designer and the keen sense of the UK Business Woman of the year 2002. It is this entrepreneural talent that has recently induced her to add wallpaper and home textiles to her carpet and rug collections now offering her clients a comprehensive look Loophouse-style.
LOOPHOUSE www.loophouse.com

PHILIP WATTS belongs to the elite of young British designers of the nineties, who started as cutting edge designer/makers skirting the boundaries between art and design, but who have since grown into serious small and medium sized companies. Today PHILIP WATTS DESIGN specialises on high end contemporary architectural fixtures and fittings for contract and residential use, which still highlight the design philosophy of its founder that even the more mundane products of buildings such as public signage and portholes can be visually appealing without losing any of their intended functionality. With the successful commercial ranges in place, PHILIP WATTS literally every so often still elevates himself from the smallest to the most grandiose scale of interior architecture by designing truly amazing staircases in his favourite medium – handcast and handpolished aluminium. PHILIP WATTS’ staircases are flights of fancy and works of art commissioned by private clients, who share his belief that stairs can be more than just a way of bridging different floor levels.
PHILIP WATTS DESIGN www.philipwattsdesign.com

FREUD LIMITED bring to the table what Philip Watts brings to the building – wonderfully sleek contemporary ranges of glass and tableware, whose design appeal lies in their elegant simplicity in shape, pattern and colour.
One of the ‘hotest’ bestsellers of the last two years has been FREUD’s new collection of cafetieres incorporating bone china and complemented by matching mocca cups and saucers. Made from the finest materials all FREUD ranges still maintain a price level which makes their products well accessible even for the large contract buyer sourcing top end high quality design products for luxury hotels.
FREUD www.freud.com

Ceramic artist MARY ROSE YOUNG with her signature designs of roses in all shapes, colours and configuratons is probably England’s best ambassador for the nation’s celebrated love for all things natural and its great heritage of plants and gardens from Humphrey Repton’s picturesque landscapes to Getrude Jekyll’s English cottage garden. Whilst Mary’s roses have no parallel in design, her artistic talent produces equally original results when employed to change the visual appeal of hymble stripes or polka dots. Like no other English artist, Mary Rose has achieved the perfect symbiosis between her craft, the material she uses and the designs she creates irrespective of scale, form or surface starting from a small saucer and ending with the finite decoration of an entire house a la Mary Rose.
MARY ROSE YOUNG www.maryroseyoung.com

W2 PRODUCTS are designers VICTORIA WHITBREAD and JACKIE PIPER, who – after graduation from Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, Britain’s hothouse college for creative talent – set up their own design consultancy W2 and first started to produce a range of interior design accessories combining cutting edge design with witty functionality and innovation technology. One of the early products of this creative duo was a cute little silicone sink plug which changed colour when exposed to different water temparatures,which not only was fun to look at but also highlighted to end user the possible danger of hot water. This range also included a collection of smart desk and bathroom accessories, which caught the eyes of the Estee Lauder design team at the ICFF – the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, America’s lead event for high end contemporary interiors and leading to a first design commission for a major international client. W2 operate from their own studio specialising not only on their own interior design products but also on design commissions for branded merchandising products. Clients include London Transport, English Heritage Muji, London Underground, Matteo Thun, Panasonic, Polaroid and Habitat.
W2 www.w2products.com

Trained interior designer MEI-HA TSANG brings to her work the aesthetic refinement of her Asian cultural heritage blended with a perfect understanding of Western world perceptions of space and form. She has an extraordinary ability to blend the muted shades of Eastern colours with simple patterns and outlines to create perfectly balanced contemporary designs. Translated onto the finest fabrics like cashmere her new collection of luxury throws and cushions, which will be launched at Index Dubai 2006, is not only stunningly beautiful to look at but also luxuriously comfortable to live with.
MEI-HA TSANG www.meihatsang.com

HOTCAKES is the company name of product designer GEORGE SAUNDERS-SINGER, whose interest in specialist lighting on the grandest possible scale has resulted in a series of commissions for one-off chandeliers and light installations for exclusive private residences as well as cutting-edge designer clubs, bars, discotheques and restaurants. Combining his impressive programming skills with latest lighting technologiy he has created an impressive range of commercially available modular chandeliers, which have the potential to change any environment into a fantasialand of ever-changing light and colour.
HOTCAKES www.hotcakes.org

ALI SIAHVOSHI brings a rare combination of artistic talent and practical skills to his entire body of work – be it pure art or pure product. His unique quality lies in his ability to balance the vision of the artist against the functional approach of the trained multidisciplinary professional with a background in graphic and industrial design. Whether he creates a light installation using 2000 wire coat hanger, a twelve tier chandelier or a floor light made from umbrellas, an extraordinary table light using an authentic hooka-water pipe (both shown in the 2005 exhibition ‘Visions of Beauty’ in Dubai) or a burglar-safe door, his perceptions of usage and usefulness always live in perfect visual and technical harmony with each other.
ALI SIAHVOSHI

JOSEPH HUNWICK has spent twenty years as a professional photographer, specialising in documentary, art, and fashion photography. His work appears within and on the cover of international publications such as Conde Nast Travel, The New York Times, The Tatler, Marie Claire, and the Telegraph Magazine. He has also produced images for the advertising and marketing campaigns of clients such as British Airways, Monsoon, and Vidal Sassoon.. His unmistakable artistic signature is the crisp vibrancy of colours in his city- and landscapes and the serene solitude of his portrait and stillife photography. A devout traveler by inclination and interest he spends most of his time on the move between travel and fashion shoots. The scenes of daily life in Timbuktu shown at Index Dubai 2006 are testimony of his love for the arabic way of life and culture, which Joseph acquired during the years he spent with his family in this part of the world and which have not only made him fluent in arabic languages but also left him with a profound understanding of light and shadow, contour and colour – the essence of Arabic art.
JOSEPH HUNWICK www.hunwick.com