MOJEH visits free-spirited boutique founder Aurélie Durand in her bohemian abode in Jumeirah — a treasure trove of souvenirs sourced from her exotic travels and buying escapades
Aurélie Durand was vacationing in Ibiza when she happened across a brand that would later become a statement piece in her home. While staying at Los Enamorados, a boutique hotel with only nine rooms situated on a quaint fishing cove, she was enchanted by the linens and canopies decorating the colourful beds. She asked about the brand — Elpelut — and learned that it was founded by two women from the Netherlands who also work with artisans in Uttar Pradesh, India, to create colourful crochet fisherman lamps. One of these Elpelut lamps now hangs from the centre of her living room, reaching halfway to the floor in ombre hues of orange, pink and red. Behind it hangs a recycled paper print of flamingos in flight on a wooden scroll, above a Camaleonda sofa Aurélie had shipped from the United States.
Beneath the tassled rim of the fisherman’s lamp is a duo of double-layered glass-top coffee tables, sitting atop a tribal Anthropologie rug. One vase contains fresh white tulips; another holds an arrangement of dried blooms in vivid primary tones. Salmon pink candleholders resemble the trunks of palm trees, and inside one is the remnant of a fuchsia-toned candlestick. Within the tables are colourful chess sets, geometric candle holders and stacks of books — along with the myriad of travel tomes, there are limited-edition publications showcasing the spectacular collections of Cartier, Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Fine jewellery hardbacks might seem out of place here, but there’s a personal story behind each of them. A decade ago, Aurélie was working in the event- planning space organising high jewellery launches and after each one, she was given a book as a memento. She also worked with the Host Committee of Dubai Expo 2020, and prior to that, was the regional sales manager for travel retail at L’Occitane. “My background before events was actually in luxury cosmetics,” says Aurélie, who was a Central Europe YSL Beauty manager in Paris before moving to Dubai.
And while she radiates natural beauty and has a penchant for accessorising, it’s Aurelie’s event- planning expertise that is clearly ingrained in her hospitable personality — and home. Her dining table (which stands beneath yet another Elpelut lamp) is dressed with a tablecloth by Milan-based textile emporium Lisa Corti. Handmade in India, contrasting prints from the brand appear on cloth napkins and placemats (and also on Aurelie’s quilt in her bedroom upstairs), while hand painted Ceramica Pinto plates are bordered by cutlery fashioned to look like bamboo.
Rustic and tropical with a maximalist touch, tableware is a key area of focus for Aurélie. “I think having a very nice table will beautify everything you have,” she tells MOJEH. “We French people love hosting and cooking, so naturally we’re just attracted to tableware. Even if you come for breakfast, I’ll have the table set with placemats and with nice plates — I cannot have it any other way. The kids expect it, and my husband is used to it.”
Aurélie’s infatuation with tableware is what brought her back to the UAE after a one-year break during the pandemic, when she moved to Geneva with her husband. “We made the decision to come back to Dubai but I needed to find myself something meaningful to do,” she recalls. Though they had planned to take a family trip to Ibiza, she decided to change the holiday destination to the Amalfi Coast instead. “I wanted to start a tableware concept, and I needed to meet the ceramists,” says Aurélie. “I had lived in Dubai so long and I couldn’t find pieces that were original and handmade, with stories behind them.” She visited family-run ceramics businesses on the Amalfi Coast, proposed bringing some of their designs to Dubai, then placed orders for what would be her first pieces sold at Caravana.
In 2021, she launched Caravana as an online concept store centred on tableware. She then added linen and small décor pieces. “I couldn’t stop there because I love fashion, so I needed to bring some ready-to-wear,” says Aurélie, who introduced dresses by Sissel Edelbo, a Danish brand that upcycles silk saris from India. After a few rounds of pop-ups at The Courtyard, she opened the bricks-and-mortar Caravana Concept Store. “All of my things need to be touched; they need to be seen in an environment that brings life to them,” says Aurélie, who a year and a half after opening Caravana’s doors, finds that she’s adding more and more clothing and less homeware.
“I want my clients to come to my shop and have the same feeling I have when I find a brand — like they’ve found a secret, hidden gem of a store,” she says. Naturally, many pieces in Aurelie’s home are sourced from Caravana, like the Sissel Edelbo stuffed cloth gingerbread house made from leftover kantha blankets and sparkling silver trims, finished off with intricate sequinned embroidery. “You see, it’s all about finding the piece you had a crush on when you were travelling, and bringing it home. I wanted to bring every piece that I loved from my vacation back with me, in my little caravan,” says Aurélie.
Her shop’s aesthetic also inspired her daughter Salomé’s nursery — a haven featuring painted palm trees, flowers, rainbows and cacti on white walls. Aurélie says while it may be the smallest room in her home, she wanted it to be the cosiest and happiest one. Her real ‘happy place’‚ however, is the sea, and a shelf in the entrance of her home pays homage to mermaids with a painted vase and matching mermaid candleholders from Sicily alongside a brass mermaid with a shell tray from Tribe Dubai.
Botanicals are equally important to the concept store founder, who has anchored the corners of her living and dining rooms with stately plants. A towering tribal palm plant almost reaches the ceiling, and is placed next to a metal sculpture boasting reflective gold palm leaves. The opposite corner of the room houses a cactus, and from one of its prickly pads dangles an embroidered evil eye — a porte bonheur, or lucky charm, gifted when Salomé was born. “Plants are part of life — every morning I take Salomé with me, and we greet Mr Cactus and the others,” she says. “I can’t live without plants. They’re tropical; they’re intense. Plants bring life to a home.” Shop now
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