Projects by REJO Design : "Hug", "The Topography of our Intimate Being, Third Home" and "Sheba Scene"

Founded in 2007 by Reem Olyan and Jumana Qasem, Saudi-based Rejo design studio is producing quite a storm within the design community. Known for the extremely aesthetically pleasing and impressive design concepts, Reem and Jumana present their colorful, contemporary and joyful designs on their instagram account which has brought them much attention. Their designs invariably raise a smile, whether that be the full undulating shapes of the HUG series or the Marshmallow sofa. There's nothing not to like about the happiness the interior design of these two women exudes.

1. Hello Reem and Jomana! Which movements have inspired your interior design style at REJO?

To be honest, we do not follow a specific movement and we do not like to limit our designs to one movement in particular. On the contrary, we try to not belong to a certain style and instead have more freedom in designing since our emotions and thought processes are always growing and evolving by what we experience in our daily lives. As we keep evolving we keep on developing our own style in designing, if we can call it so, with time and experience. In short, we can say that our designs mainly are an outcome of the influence of what we observe and discover in our lives.

Two projects by REJO Design : "The Topography of our Intimate Being, First Home" and the "Hug Bookcase"

2. Of which project(s) in your career are you most proud?

Well, it's a little bit hard to choose just one product or design as we are still at the beginning and still have a lot more to achieve. However, if we have to pick out one, it would be the "Hug Collection", especially the " Hug Bookcase". The development of the design while manufacturing it to reach its final form is a process that we will always be proud of. Also, we consider the series "The Topography of Our Intimate Being" as a memorable project we designed during the quarantine time and how these rooms have become embodiments of what we felt during that time.

3. Your brand logo reads the following, 'REJO design studio. Furniture design. Love. Art.' How do you perceive the interconnecting fields of art, design and interior design? Does art play an important part in your interior design?

Yes, of course, art plays an essential part in our design process. Of course, as art is objective and varies from person to person, what we see as art may differ to what others see it as. For us, art has been part of our identity and personality since childhood, and we consider it our free space to create what we explore and feel in the spaces and projects we design.

4. REJO Design studio has roots in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Palestine. Would you consider your interior design as having a Middle Eastern influence?

Of course, wherever you look in the Arab region, you will see colors and beautiful shapes on every street corner, the clothes of passers-by, buildings, and inside homes. We always try to reflect and recreate even a part of this beautiful and vital aspect of our culture and identity in our designs. We wish to revive this heritage in a living and eternal way for future generations.

A project by REJO Design : "Alia Table"

5. Quarantine was a period of self-reflection for the world. It led you to create your 'Hug Collection'. Would you say that the pandemic provided you with a period of unrestricted creative freedom?

It can be said that the significant difference during the quarantine, is that it was a time we were more close to ourselves, so the work “The Hug Collection" came out as an expression of ourselves, and how we felt during those times compared to other works. Also, in the last house in the series “ The Topography of Our Intimate Being", we decided at that time that we need to design a room with no rules regardless of the distribution of the pieces in the space. A room with two different bookcases side by side in two strong colors. This way of designing gave us the freedom to create this beauty by causing us to reconnect and become more aware of our free spirit.

6. Finally, in which emerging or established fine artists do you take interest ?

We admire a lot of artists and sculptors, but Henri Matisse is one of the closest artists to our design. We admire his brilliant and vibrant work. As for our contemporaries, we admire a lot of artists, but we are often inspired by the works of a multitude of artists rather than just one artist in particular. One of the artists we have been admiring lately is the work of the artist Abdullah Al-Othman, a Saudi artist, whom we encountered in several exhibitions of several works. His core themes lie close to our lived experiences and to what we experienced in our childhood.

Project : « The Topography of our Intimate Being, Second Home », 2020