Holding A Fleeting Moment Inside Duette Studio’s Ephemeral Petunia Garden
By Sara Hammoud
In a city that reshapes itself almost weekly, where glass towers rise and dissolve into the desert glare, Duette Studio has crafted a moment meant to slow people down. Founded by husband and wife duo Rahat Kunakunova and Fuad Ali, the Dubai-based experiential design lab is gaining recognition for installations that blend material poetry with technical clarity. Their latest work, Ephemeral Petunia Garden, debuted during Dubai Design Week, an illuminated sculptural landscape inspired by a flower most residents overlook.
“We kept coming back to the petunia,” Rahat says. “It’s humble, it blooms in winter, and then disappears. We wanted to hold that fleeting moment in place.” The installation, a field of reflective stems crowned with stainless steel mesh petals, shifts from serene to cinematic as day turns to night.
In the late morning sun, mirrored surfaces fold the city into the piece. “Daylight invites calm curiosity,” Rahat explains. “People notice reflections, edges, and how the sky drifts across the base.” After sunset, the sculpture glows from within, each petal lit with low-energy LEDs. “At night, it becomes communal,” Ali adds. “A place to gather, take photos, or simply pause. Two moods, one narrative.”
The project moved quickly from concept to installation, taking just eight to ten weeks. Modular stems, hand-finished petals, and flat-packable components allowed the team to fabricate locally and install with remarkable efficiency. Built for travel, the garden is already preparing for its next location.
Rahat and Ali describe their working relationship as an ongoing conversation, shaped by shared life and complementary strengths. “We bring one vision through two lenses,” Rahat says. She leads narrative, lighting, and material language, while Ali focuses on systems design, production, and audience flow. “We prototype fast, critique honestly, and keep one question as our north star, How will this live with people?”
Inside Duette Studio, they have created a culture rooted in psychological safety, clarity, and kindness. Debate stays separate from delivery, disagreements are private, alignment is public. Daily stand-ups keep momentum, open pin-ups encourage transparent critique, and each project closes with a candid debrief. Roles are clearly defined, and mentorship is woven into every workstream. “Younger designers grow alongside seasoned fabricators,” Rahat notes. “It keeps the studio human first while the work stays brave.”
Duette Studio sits at the intersection of art, fashion, and spatial design. “Fashion gives us precision and pacing,” Rahat says. “Art gives us research and risk. Spatial design gives us flow, safety, and operations.” This cross-disciplinary approach enables the duo to transform brand values into lived experiences, installations that perform emotionally and practically long after they debut.
Their signature is subtle but recognizable, light as material, memory as theme, and clarity in movement. “We want pieces that feel generous,” Ali says. “Easy to enter, hard to forget.”
Following Design Week, Ephemeral Petunia Garden is set to tour internationally. Its modular system allows for new scales, new choreographies, and new contexts. The pair is also developing a collectible “Miniature Edition” for homes and studios, a way for the story to continue in more intimate environments.
Sustainability, particularly in the UAE context, is central to their process. They prioritize local fabrication, re-skinning for new narratives, low-energy lighting, and avoiding wasteful one-offs. “Clients and cities are asking for longevity,” Ali says. “We are committed to evolving platforms, not temporary spectacles.”
Despite their forward-looking practice, Rahat and Ali’s philosophy remains grounded in the present, specifically in the people around them. “Our inspiration comes from our surroundings, our home, friends, and community,” Rahat says. “We are inspired by the young creatives and ambitious youth of Dubai.”
Their long-term ambition reaches beyond installations. They aim to help build an ecosystem of creative and cultural opportunity, one that circulates talent, resources, and growth within the community. “Dubai is writing its own cultural story,” Ali reflects. “We are proud to contribute to it through art, design, and the creative economy.”
As the petals of Ephemeral Petunia Garden glow softly against the Dubai night, they embody exactly what Duette Studio stands for, a fleeting moment, held just long enough for people to draw close, and remember.
