A collection of 10 handmade carpets, called One Love, gives form to the idea of taking a unified stand against the sweeping effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nine designers and architects from nine countries across five continents came together to create the series of distinctive designs, which were brought to life by Hands Carpets. The company uses nonallergenic wool from New Zealand, fine bamboo silk made from renewable forestry and hand-dyed yarns to craft high-quality carpets that line the floors of some of the most recognisable buildings in the world, including Burj Al Arab, the White House and The Plaza in New York City.
Hands Carpets also supports initiatives that work towards the welfare of the carpet-making community and eradication of child labour. Its artisanal wool rugs, kilims, dhurries and contemporary hand-tufted carpets are all manufactured in-house and are in compliance with Leed green building air quality regulations.
The One Love collection was conceived and curated by Mumbai architect Padmini Pandey and enabled by innumerable discussions over transcontinental video calls. The carpets are hand-tufted in wool, bamboo silk and botanical silk, and each one-off piece takes up to 10 weeks to craft and retails at Dh14,700.
A part of the proceeds from the collection's sale will go to Project Mala, a programme dedicated to the education of children. The sale of each carpet will sponsor a year's primary education of one underprivileged child living in and around the carpet-making centres of India.
"We, as architects and designers, have the power to shape and mould societies," says Pandey, who founded her eponymous architecture and interior design company in Mumbai in 2011, after spending five years honing her craft in Italy. "We must exercise this power of design to contribute to society's welfare. When creativity is used in the case of adversity, it empowers the concept of humanity rising above all odds."
The nine designers, who were invited to reimagine the eternal but common elements of the sky and the sea, come from all corners of the world. In addition to Pandey, they are: Pamela Caspani from Australia; Regina Davila from Guatemala; Sheena Poerwantoro from Indonesia; Luisa Scanu from Italy; Karla Celorio from Mexico; Katia Santillan from Peru; Svetlana Selivanova from Russia; and Tuna Meier from Turkey.
These rich geographical influences shape the carpets. From vividly coloured Australian reefs and the complex patterns of Russian ice fractals to the contemporary icons of Italian architecture, each carpet speaks of its designer's distinct cultural make-up.
Peruvian architect Santillan, who also teaches interior design at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, drew on the small and large mountain ranges of the Andes for her design, creating a colourful yet abstract rendering of her roots. Poerwantoro celebrates Indonesia’s natural heritage and multicultural identity by reimagining her homeland as a vast archipelago simplified into the form of a human fingerprint.
Celorio references Mexico's rich and diverse terrain, with its beaches, underground sea caves, mountains and volcanoes; while Pandey looked to the holy city of Banaras, where she says the river Ganges and the divinity of Hindu deity Shiva are believed to converge.
While nine of the carpets are solo endeavours and have the same dimensions, the 10th is a collaboration between four designers, Pandey, Santillan, Poerwantoro and Davila, and it breaks form. The circular piece captures the essence and cultural influences of each of the nine designers involved – to become a symbol of collaboration, connectivity and cultural unity.
“This tenacity to not just survive but to evolve in the face of adversity is inherently human,” says Ravi Patodia, managing director of Hands Carpets. “One Love is a reflection of the resilient human spirit that is driven by pure artistic instinct.”
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
The specs: 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn
Price, base / as tested: Dhxxx
Engine: 5.7L V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 556Nm @ 3,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2
Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')
Barcelona 0
The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Types of fraud
Phishing: Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
Smishing: The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
Vishing: The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
SIM swap: Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
Identity theft: Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
Prize scams: Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
* Nada El Sawy
The specs: 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio
Price, base: Dh198,300
Engine: 2.0L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 280hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7L / 100km
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
more from Janine di Giovanni
How to come clean about financial infidelity
- Be honest and transparent: It is always better to own up than be found out. Tell your partner everything they want to know. Show remorse. Inform them of the extent of the situation so they know what they are dealing with.
- Work on yourself: Be honest with yourself and your partner and figure out why you did it. Don’t be ashamed to ask for professional help.
- Give it time: Like any breach of trust, it requires time to rebuild. So be consistent, communicate often and be patient with your partner and yourself.
- Discuss your financial situation regularly: Ensure your spouse is involved in financial matters and decisions. Your ability to consistently follow through with what you say you are going to do when it comes to money can make all the difference in your partner’s willingness to trust you again.
- Work on a plan to resolve the problem together: If there is a lot of debt, for example, create a budget and financial plan together and ensure your partner is fully informed, involved and supported.
Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
