Another year, another milestone for Urban Nest team! Today we look back and reflect on all that has been achieved, how much we grew with the company and how much fun we had doing it all!
Urban Nest was originated with a distinct idea that every home deserves an original style that stands out from the ordinary. One thing for sure, there was nothing ordinary this year around!
We eagerly collaborated with interior designers and interior design studios for table styling workshops – Cosentino, Bayt Kalthoum Design, Harf Noon Design, National Design Academy to name a few.
We have built and opened an extra floor in our beautiful showroom, which held a number of unique pop-ups including Peruvian pop-up representing our founder Janaika's roots and Christmas pop-up for the festive activities! On International Women’s Day we celebrated and raised awareness for women’s rights with this year’s theme #ChooseToChallenge, by hosting a talk with Dani Hakim and having a fun live painting with Anna Basheer.
Yet, another proud moment for us was a presence at the Dubai Design Week in partnership with Dutch Consulate and Molecule Bistro!
The past few years has shaped a new reality for all of us, but we have come out stronger than ever! We learned to adapt new communication strategies with our customers. In our mailings, blogposts and on Instagram we are giving styling advice to add value to the community.
We shared free styling advice in real life too, by offering it this summer in our showroom by our star Stylist Corine.
And of course, we launched our first Peruvian collection in collaboration with Sumaq Qara, designed by our founder Janaika to represent her multicultural roots. The collection is dedicated to creating jobs in marginal urban areas and communities of extreme poverty.
Our Team
As four years have passed, our team has grown stronger and bigger, each team member adds their own values and skills to Urban Nest, helping us get bigger and better day by day. We wanted you to meet the individuals that make our wonderful Urban Nest team, those who work hard every day to make Urban Nest the best experience for our customers.
Our favourite thing to do as a team is have our everyday catch-up, which means we take out 15 minutes daily from our busy schedules to grab a cup of tea and coffee in our favourite HKliving ceramics and get to know one another better, discussing everything from our cooking recipes, to our favourite songs and also our guilty pleasures.
We thought the best way you could get to know us is how we got to know each other!
Janaika Elders
Founder and CEO of Urban Nest. Using her roots as her inspiration, Janaika founded Urban Nest to bring unique one of a kind pieces that were sustainable and fair trade to the UAE. Her international background is reflected in Urban Nests ethos where most designers and brands are Dutch or Latin American and are environmentally friendly as they are made in small quantities.
We asked Janaika to answer a few questions to help you get to know her a bit better!
Best Memory at Urban Nest: The “Design meets Fashion Catwalk Show“ that we did just before the lockdown February 2020. It was so much fun to organize a fashion show and we got so much support from other local brands.
Design Aesthetic: My style would be Scandinavian meets Tropical jungle - I love having a lot of plants, tropical biophilic wall papers and some Latino colours in a modern and cosy setting, you can see that reflected in my own home interiors!
Professional Super Power: Excel anything! Systematized spreadsheets, colour coded and organised perfectly into the right folders on my laptop!
Favourite Hobby: Presenting and networking! I love meeting and collaborating with many different kinds of people and companies.
Guilty Pleasure: Definitely binge-watching reality shows while sitting on my comfy sofa and eating popcorn. Currently watching Too Hot to Handle 🤭
Favorite Products:
- Twister Fauteuil in cream
- Retro lounge fauteuil - nude melange
- Retro stoneware lamp base - purple
- Vase in Lava Brown
- 70’s ceramics coffee mugs (set of 6)
- Wicker coffee table
Sofia Pereira
Our star Operations Manager, amongst her multiple responsibilities from sales, order logistics, e-commerce to assisting in the showroom with styling & events, she looks after our most valuable aspect of the business - our B2B and B2C customers. Her people skills and optimistic energy is what we love about her, along with her coffee obsessions and spicy peanut butter!
Best Memory at Urban Nest: January 2021, when we reopened the showroom after building the mezzanine floor, I loved the way it looked, the feeling of a new beginning and the wow effect it had on the customers coming in.
Design Aesthetic: Modern and rustic, with a hint of bohemian. I love vintage one of a kind pieces!
Professional Super Power: Organization: whether it’s data in excel sheets, boxes on the shelf or coffee table books on the counter! I also love the interaction with customers, I find easy to connect with them and help problem solve by finding design solutions.
Favorite Hobby: I have a deep love for nature and outdoor adventures, from camping, hiking to scuba diving. You can find me outside every weekend!
Guilty Pleasure: Mexican food on a Thursday night watching a medical show, my current favourites are New Amsterdam and The Good Doctor on Netflix.
- Pink marble tray
- Marble boards for my Love for food presentation
- Bamboo/rice paper pendant ball lamp – Just wish I had the house and space for it!
- Retro oval cabinet black and light grey/green
- Lobby bench natural
- All the outdoor collection, specially the outdoor sofas
April Celeste Palacios
Urban Nest’s Customer Service and Admin Assistant, the newest member of our team, or as we’d like to call her, the person you go to when you need anything or everything! April’s creativity and positive mindset is what we love about her. We asked April to answer a few questions to help you get to know her a bit better!
Best Memory at Urban Nest: Definitely winning the HKliving earthenware coffee table, I had my eye on it and I still cannot believe I was lucky enough to win such a beautiful piece!
Design Aesthetic: Boho Chic and or Minimalist. Whites, lots of neutrals and earth tones!
Professional Super Power: Design & Photography – anything that’s creative.
Favorite Hobby: Sketching! I love taking out my pen markers and getting lost in my sketchbook, it’s such a great detox from the screens and social media.
Guilty Pleasure: K-Drama, I can sit and binge watch it for hours, otherwise I love google sheets and using it for accounting my personal savings and expenses (weird I know)
Favorite Products:
- Tea pot - gold
- Ceramic scented candle: casa fruits
- Abstract head sculpture
- Miniature Alpaca figures
- Dost lounge - terracotta
- Circular LED lamp
- DORIS for HKliving: lobby bench - floral print
Corine van Dujin
Urban Nest’s talented Interior Stylist, Corine leads multiple styling events throughout the year, looks after our showroom, website, social media styling and prepares for photoshoots. When you enter our beautiful studio, it’s her magical touch that you see at the first glance. It’s that print cushion seating perfectly on the chic couch, a vase angled just at the right direction and a wall art hanged in the perfect light.
Best Memory at Urban Nest: There are just too many! But if I had to choose one, it would be receiving new arrivals at our showroom. It's like party to me! I love to see all the new items in real life and style them nicely in the showroom.
Design Aesthetic: "Mix and match" is the best description of my style. Vintage, Scandinavian and definitely a touch of colour.
Professional Super Power: My natural creativity.
Favorite Hobby: Travel is my passion! As a wife of a pilot, I love to explore the world, discover new places and new cultures.
Guilty Pleasure: I can eat one whole bucket of Häagen-Dazs ice cream (yes 500ml) all by myself.
Favorite Products:
- Framed relief art panel
- Gesso table lamp
- 70s ceramics: coffee mugs, spring green
- Retro sofa in velvet corduroy, colour aged gold
We would like to invite all our customers to celebrate the 4th Year Anniversary by offering a giveaway! One lucky winner will receive our stunning vintage beach umbrella by Doris Vintage x Hkliving! To enter the competition, follow our Instagram, like the post, tag 3 friends and share with us in the comments your favourite Urban Nest piece! Deadline for entry will be at 12pm on Thursday 16th of September. Good luck!
