MILAN — Alia Rachid, managing director of her family’s Alsara Investment Group and founder of Fromm., is continuing her mission to create a design world that distinctly reflects the Gulf’s heritage.
On Monday, she said Fromm.Lab, an educational design platform, has signed a key partnership to support emerging talent with the Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park, known as Spark, based in the UAE city of Sharjah.
The two organizations will work together to develop a furniture and design-focused program to promote creative exchange and foster opportunities in the regional design sector.
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“Collaborating with Fromm. and Fromm.Lab allows us to create meaningful pathways for designers from our region to engage internationally, while bringing global creative energy back to Sharjah,” said Spark chief executive officer Hussain Al Mahmoudi in a statement.
From Brand to Emerging Talent Platform
Rachid founded Fromm. in 2023 as a luxury contemporary furniture and accessories brand in Doha and Milan with the aim of creating a mix of design and manufacturing. The brand collaborates with local and international designers to create collections that blend heritage, innovation and contemporary aesthetics.
Rachid later launched Fromm.Lab, a creative hub that bridges the distance between Qatar’s design world and Milan, which she still considers the gateway to the global market. In 2025, Rachid launched the first international design competition inviting under-35 talents to reimagine Arab heritage, access mentorship, production support and garner international exposure.
International Voices Interpreting Middle Eastern Heritage
During Milan Design Week, Fromm.Lab made a key foray onto the global design scene. The organization presented Interlaced, an exhibition within the Alcova showcase that highlighted the work of four out of 12 finalists from its international design competition launched during Milan Design Week 2025.
On show was the work of Lebanese designer Ismail Hutet and French-American Blanca Scully, whose designs imbue European influences and Arab heritage; Cecilia Rinaldi, an Italian textile designer, artist, and sustainable fashion researcher based in Bologna; Hungarian-German designer Daniel Heilig, and Australian-Chinese designer Xinyi Wang. A larger exhibition featuring the work of the Fromm.Lab finalists will debut at the Design Doha Biennale, which has been postponed from April to Nov. 5 due to the unrest in the region.
In an interview with WWD, Rachid said support from Gulf Cooperation Council governments endures and continues to make developments in design and creative industries possible.
“All of the GCC and Arab countries have this vision of working on their creative industry,” she said in Milan, speaking to WWD at Salotto Retori, the luxury brand Retori‘s flagship which hosts art exhibitions, creative workshops, private dinners and immersive performances.
For Milan Design Week, Fromm. unveiled a capsule collection named “The Space Between.”
“We’re understanding what [these] international designers see in Arab heritage and they are showing us their view as well. This presentation at Alcova is an important step in that journey, giving visibility to a new generation of voices and reinforcing our commitment to supporting design as both a cultural and economic force across regions,” Rachid said.
As managing director of Alsara Investment Group, her family’s investment firm, Rachid also has an interest in European native design. In September, Alsara, along with a group of shareholders led by asset management firm Solida Capital and which includes investment firm Vivium, acquired Italian luxury design firm Giorgetti.
Looking ahead, she said that Fromm.Lab, which has a hub both in Milan and at the M7 Msheireb Downtown Doha, Qatar, is focused on nurturing perspectives on how the region’s design identity is evolving.
Fromm.Lab is backed by a panel of well known mentors, including Giulio Cappellini, designer and founder of Cappellini; Joseph Grima, cofounder of Space Caviar and Alcova; Lebanese, Paris-based architect Aline Asmar d’Amman, and the Fromm.Lab team led by Luca Fois, professor at Politecnico di Milano. The judging panel also includes Design Doha Biennale acting director Fahad Al Obaidly.