Why the Gulf’s cultural landscape demands a new design language
Hilda Impey on why Gulf interiors need a contemporary design language rooted in culture, material and place, not imported styles or borrowed regional motifs.
Hilda Impey, creative director and co-founder of Impey Studio, considers what a contemporary design language for the Gulf should be. Drawing on the region’s distinct architectural traditions, materials and ways of living, she argues for interiors grounded in cultural understanding rather than borrowed ornament, and for designers who interpret heritage instead of reproducing it.
The Gulf does not need another design language imported from elsewhere, nor does it need its heritage reduced to pattern, ornament or familiar symbols. What it needs is a contemporary language that grows from the region itself: culturally intelligent, materially grounded and confident enough to reinterpret rather than reproduce.
That distinction matters because the Gulf is changing at extraordinary speed. New cities, hotels, cultural institutions and destinations are being created alongside places with very deep histories, traditions and social structures. The challenge for designers is not simply to make these environments look “local”. It is to understand what makes a place culturally specific, then translate that knowledge into spaces that belong to the present.
For me, this is where a new design language begins.
Culture is not a catalogue of motifs. It lives in the way people gather, welcome, move, celebrate, retreat and connect. It can be found in the logic of a courtyard, the generosity of hospitality, the rhythm of shade and light, the tactile intelligence of craft, the proportions of a room or the way materials respond to climate. These principles are far more powerful than simply borrowing an arch, a pattern or a decorative reference.
Our approach at Impey Studio is to dig beneath the visible. Research is not a preliminary exercise to justify a concept; it is part of the design itself. We look for narratives hidden in plain sight, then deconstruct them to understand what can be carried forward. The intention is not nostalgia. It is continuity reimagined.
This is also why I resist the idea of a single “Gulf aesthetic”. The region is connected by shared histories and cultural values, but its identities are not interchangeable. Najdi architecture has a different material and spatial intelligence from the coastal traditions of the UAE. Oman carries another language, as do Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the Hejaz. Good design should reveal those distinctions rather than flatten them into a generic version of regional luxury.
The next chapter of Gulf design therefore needs more specificity, not less.
Materiality plays an essential role. Materials are not simply finishes applied at the end of a project; they carry memory, atmosphere and meaning. Stone, plaster, timber, textile, metal and colour can connect a contemporary interior to landscape, climate, craft and human touch without becoming literal. When handled with curiosity and precision, material becomes a form of cultural storytelling.
At the same time, contemporary Gulf design cannot be afraid of technology, experimentation or global influence. Culture has never been static. The most relevant spaces will be those that can hold tradition and progress in the same conversation. A project can be deeply rooted and still feel radical, international and future-facing.
That requires designers to become more comfortable with interpretation. There is always some friction in creating something genuinely new. You question, test, edit, and sometimes abandon the obvious answer. But that discomfort is valuable. It prevents culture from becoming a styling exercise.
For designers working in the Gulf, that creates a particular responsibility. We are not only shaping interiors; we are contributing to how a rapidly changing region sees itself and how it chooses to represent itself to others. That demands care, curiosity and conviction.
Ultimately, I do not think the Gulf needs a new “look”. It needs a new way of thinking about design: one in which context comes before image, meaning before decoration and cultural understanding before stylistic recognition.
If we get that right, the region has an opportunity to create something far more important than a recognisable aesthetic. It can develop a body of contemporary design that is unmistakably of its place, while speaking confidently to the world.