From studying mass communications, to later on pursuing your interest in product design, and launching a brand, how did you get from point A to B?
It was definitely a big leap, at least on paper. But throughout my life, I’ ve always had an interest in art and design. I was always drawing landscapes and portraits. On the other hand, I also had an interest and appreciation in acquiring leather goods for my personal use. After realizing that I’ ve found a new passion for leather goods that came with an intensive amount of practice, I decided to drop my government job in the communications field and start Tharb.
Why the name“ Tharb”?
Tharb, in local Emirati dialect, refers to a person whose well spoken, and who generally has noble characteristics. After much research for the name, I decided to look for inspiration by reading the poems of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan. That’ s when I came across the verse mentioning the word“ tharb” and the rest was history.
Do the products have a literal representation, derived from the meaning of the word?
I believe that there is an overarching representation of the name in our products. The products are designed to be minimal yet practical and we try to stay away from over designing just for the sake of aesthetics alone. So in a way, the products are very“ well behaved” design wise, which relates back to the name.
SPRING 2018
Perle 37