Lifestyle

Gorgeous Hair, no more a Tedious Affair with Rafi Kouyoumjian

Published

3 years ago

October 19, 2019

Can hairstyling be exciting? For many of us, the regular trip to the salon can be a tedious task, something we have to get out of the way to make us look presentable. Hardly anything we look forward to. But to some, specifically, those who have taken it as their life’s work, it is a passion.

Count Rafi Kouyoumjian among them. The Kuwait-born son of Armenian parents and a resident of Abu Dhabi openly calls hairstyling an art-form. For the owner of Beauty Spot in the city’s Anantara Hotel and top-ranked hairstylist in the United Arab Emirates, hair isn’t merely a job.

Kouyoumjian emphasizes each visit with him being quick and efficient with customers while they are in the chair, but that’s not the end of the story. He also emphasizes the need for the entire experience to be a rewarding one, and for the end result to be one that excites the person wearing it.

“Hair design is an art,” he says. “People who do what I do, and do it as well as I do, we’re magicians. And it’s fun. When you find something fun, you’re going to be good at it; you’re going to enjoy listening to women and making them look and feel beautiful.”

Koyoumjian finds his work fun and sees it as art. A look at his Instagram reveals this. Nine out of ten posts are videos showing what he can do with a customer’s hair. And with over eighteen thousand followers, it would appear that people value what he has to teach and show the world about hair.

“When I say that I’m one of the best hair designers in the UAE, it’s not just me bragging,” he says. “I see it as a responsibility. I see it as a way to show there are those of us out there who take hairstyling seriously and make it into an art-form.”

Lifestyle

SPOTLIGHT: Sweet vinyl by DREAMOUR

Published

18 hours ago

February 3, 2023

Michelle Langton

What happens when two immensely talented visionaries come together to create elegance and ingenuity in a sculptural glass fragranced candle? Dreamour. That is the long and short version of how Dreamour was created. Founded by Karissa Rowe and Neal Klotsman in late September 2022, Dreamour was founded with the goal of creating a luxury fragrance brand that operates at the intersection of functional art in the candle market space.

Rowe, a Parsons School of Design graduate, set out to fill the niche of integrating design in the candle marketplace. Unlike most candle vessels that are mass-produced, Dreamour’s founders desired to prioritize the artisanal craftsmanship of glass in their production processes of the sculptural glass designs. This resulted in a long timeline of sourcing the globe for talented glass artisans who could transform a sketch into a functional and sophisticated candle vessel. Each and every candle vessel is hand-blown, inherently resulting in a one-of-a-kind product and unique experience for the consumer. These functional fragrant candles also act as a piece of décor due to its sculptural and alluring appearance.

Sweet Vinyl, Dreamour’s first candle scent, fills the room with musky & leathery notes combined with earthy notes of vetiver and cypriol, topped with a citrus touch of bergamot and mandarin. The founders worked with master perfumers in Grasse, France, to create a scent that invoked notes of memorable moments, emphasizing high quality ingredients in the fragrances in a soy wax blend. This resulted in candles that consist of clean ingredients, a vegan formula, and is entirely cruelty-free.

It is the personification of the glass blowers’ spirit, the heart of Grasse imprisoned in a bottle, and the narrative of two visionaries that sets Dreamour at the top of the candle market pedestal. Dreamour embodies the sophistication and savior-faire French perfumery as a luxury brand, while being a NYC based brand. Dreamour is currently stocked at Patron of the New in New York, along with other major designer luxury known brands. Rowe and Klotsman are currently expanding their production lines and will drop new fragrances and designs in early 2023. Don’t expect anything ordinary with Dreamour, as they will continue to bring a unique perspective to the marketplace of home fragrances.

To find out more about Dreamour and their newest releases, you may visit the business’s website dreamour.com or follow the company via its Instagram handle @dreamourshop.