Life

The wellness movement has been polished to a highgloss, marketable sheen. It appears in the curated minimalism of a Pilates studio, the serene palette of a luxury retreat, and the algorithm-friendly allure of a matcha ritual. At a time when wellbeing is both a commodity and an aesthetic, a more profound and personal evolution is occurring behind closed doors. Women are engineering their own sanctuaries, crafting intimate domains designed to form a foundation for calm and centered selves.

For Asma Al Matrooshi, founder of Emirati fashion label Epiphany, this transformation began with recognising the need for a space that truly reflected her inner world. Her desert home represents an ongoing journey of self-discovery through design. “After almost three years in this house, I realise I would add more colours now,” she confesses. “I have a lot of beige on beige, and now I need greens and maybe this burnt orange colour,” she says pointing at her abaya. “Our spaces change every couple of years, depending on your mood, if you’re pregnant, if you’re busy, it depends on where you are in life.” This evolution of personal space represents what creative director Patrizia Bortolin of the Kintsugi Space in Abu Dhabi describes as a fundamental shift in how we conceive of our environments. “We are not a structure, but really a system, an incredible system,” Bortolin explains. “Creating environments that resonate with your inner space, that is the most important space we have to inhabit. That’s the art.”

For Al Matrooshi, this art manifests in the deliberate curation of her home’s sensory landscape. Her whole-house lighting system uses dimmers to create what she calls “an automatic feeling of calmness” as evening falls. The comforting aroma of dry oud throughout her home evokes cherished memories. “I just put it around at five or six in the evening, or sometimes in the morning. It just makes me feel good – it smells like Eid, the first day of Eid, or like a wedding.” The spiritual dimension of her space holds equal importance. “Prayer five times a day gives us that time to zone off and focus on what happened in your day,” she reflects. “In these five times you pray, if you felt overwhelmed or you needed help anytime throughout the day, you have these moments where you can ask God for it. I feel lately humans are very overwhelmed, we’re a bit more fragile than we used to be. Sometimes you need this just to reset.”

This need for resetting is what Bortolin observes in women visiting Kintsugi. “My personal experience with Emirati women has been marvelous,” she shares. “I found so much authenticity within them, so much emotional connection – a bit like the Mediterranean way of connecting to people. The majority of people now have systems that are overloaded. Everyone’s tired, everyone’s going through something. Everyone needs this time to reset.”

For Al Matrooshi, the most profound expression of this reset appears in the creation of dedicated personal zones within her home. She maintains both a personal majlis that captures what she describes as the “happy energy” of gatherings, and a separate studio that serves as her creative sanctuary. “This is where I paint. This is where I create designs. This is where I just shut my brain off,” she says of her studio. Yet her vision for this space remains beautifully unfinished, reflecting her evolving needs. “I haven’t gotten the time to design it yet. I haven’t had an idea of what I want to do with the space.” Her dream for this incomplete sanctuary includes what she describes as “a huge library, a lot of books” – a vision born from her recent discovery of reading’s transformative power.

“I never liked reading growing up, but recently I started, and it just made me dive from book to book. It changed my whole vision of how I see life.” Bortolin sees this ongoing curation of personal space as essential work. “The more you create a secluded space, the more you are living the life,” she reflects. “Those who are really feeling better are creating spaces where you can feel yourself.” Through these architectural choices, the strategic use of light and scent, the preservation of quiet corners, the dedication of space for creativity and growth, women like Al Matrooshi are rewriting the relationship between environment and identity. The home becomes an active participant in cultivating a peaceful, centered self, designed as an evolving companion in the essential work of being. In the unfinished studio waiting for its library, in the beige walls yearning for burnt orange, there lies the true soul of the private sphere – a living, breathing dialogue with oneself.

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Images: Supplied