Rasha Al-Tekreeti
Originally from Iraq but based in Dubai, Rasha Al-Tekreeti is an independent, self-motivated, and passionate Interior Designer. She is consistently looking for inspiration from nature, traveling to cities, and exploring cultures.
Rasha is an energetic, and outgoing person (she can be calm sometimes) and she loves meeting people from different backgrounds and cultures.
In love nature, one of Rasha’s favorite hobbies is horseback riding, and traveling:
"I dream of traveling the world, exploring the fascinating cities, hunting for authenticity in villages, and meeting exciting people to learn from their cultures!"
"The Master in Strategic Design of Spaces made me shift my attention from hospitality to workplace consultancy and design, I am driven by human-centric innovation!"
Rasha Al-Tekreeti joined the Master in Strategic Design of Spaces at IE School of Architecture and Design in 2019. When she first arrived to Madrid, she was a professional specialized in the hospitality field, but after taking the program she decided to shift her attention towards workplace consultancy and design, driven by human-centric innovation.
Design of the hotel Arjaan by Rotana, made by Rasha
Her love for design pushes her to observe the surroundings and look into details that became her motivation when thinking of a design process, material selection and to achieve a perfectly implemented end product. Based in Dubai, she has been working on different hotel and restaurant projects. One of her favorites is the Arjaan by Rotana hotel located on a manmade island in the UAE.
The main idea for this project was to represent the continuity and movement of dunes in a simple yet elegant way. The color palette consists of earthy tones, accents of copper with various tones of blue.
The project showcases the traditional Emirati weaving throughout the hotel with different photographs of Emirati women weaving wool and contemporary paintings.
Living in the melting pot that Dubai is, has helped Rasha expand her horizons and become more flexible working with people from diverse backgrounds with different points of view. Coming to understand the design brief with the clients, and meeting and exceeding their expectations within the given budget and deadline are the most challenging features of Rasha’s job, but her passion for creating spaces that enhance new experiences make the process easier. Being analytical and detailed-oriented also helps her paying greater attention to drawings and documents to ensure greater quality.
Rasha enjoying one of her hobbies: back horse riding
She focuses mainly on human-centric design and always hears people’s thoughts and feedback, looking deeper into the solutions, taking the extra mile which made her manage to come up for an extraordinary and innovative design solution.
What I like about my field is the beauty of converting raw design ideas into functional design elements.
Rasha uses the word enlighteningto refer to the IE Master in Strategic Design of Spaces. The collaborative learning focus of the program and being in a classroom with people with 14 nationalities helped Rasha learning different perspectives: “Come with an open heart you will learn and grow not just as professional, as a person too!”
After graduation, I walked out from IE more striving to learn! More focused on innovation in daily life, more concerned about enhancing the norms of living and more into collaborative working.
Rasha with some of her classmates during Graduation
I would advise future students of the program to be open and receptive to all the ideas and feedback around you. Make sure to absorb and maximize learning from your colleagues and professors!
