D’Ora Tokai Designs

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D’Ora Tokai Designs DTD | D’Ora Tokai Designs is a Dubai based interior design studio.

Most interiors rely on furniture to soften the hard geometry of a building. At Maison Terra, the softness begins with th...
04/10/2026

Most interiors rely on furniture to soften the hard geometry of a building. At Maison Terra, the softness begins with the architecture itself. The furniture moves between soft, organic forms and more structured, angular pieces.

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Design studio:
Project: Maison Terra
Bespoke furniture:
Photography: Casa Mia Visuals • Interior Photography

24/09/2026

Sharing our recent Marie Claire Maison Home Tour of The White Arcade.

23/09/2026

Step inside The White Arcade with designer D’Ora Tokai , a 675-square-metre Spanish-style villa in Dubai transformed into a light-filled sanctuary.
Once dark and fragmented, the home has been reimagined around a recurring language of arches, connecting spaces, framing views and creating a dialogue between the villa’s Spanish origins and the Emirati heritage of its owner.
At its heart, a double-height courtyard becomes a luminous living space, while bespoke pieces, from a sculptural curved sofa to a monumental white onyx dining table, extend the architecture into the interiors.
For this episode of HOUSE TOURS, D’Ora Tokai takes Marie Claire Maison Arabia inside a home shaped by light, material and a sense of calm.


Three homes, three gorgeous views, and a shared idea of a sanctuary-like home.The green-accented Downtown apartment came...
20/09/2026

Three homes, three gorgeous views, and a shared idea of a sanctuary-like home.

The green-accented Downtown apartment came first. Two later clients approached us after seeing the project and loving its sense of openness, sculptural forms and artistic details, and the way the home feels both expressive and restorative. The original idea evolved naturally across three very different homes, each shaped by the people living there, the architecture and the view beyond.

Across all three, clear areas of focus give sculptural furniture, art, tactile materials and carefully placed colour the space to stand out, while open areas around them allow the interiors to breathe. Every element contributes to the experience of the home, creating character within a sense of calm.

The apartments also share something rather special beyond their walls: exceptional views towards the Arabian Gulf, the Royal Palace and a green park. Light, open compositions frame these views and draw the eye naturally towards the landscape, allowing the changing daylight and colours outside to become part of the atmosphere within.

This is where the sense of sanctuary comes from: a home shaped around its residents and setting, where artful composition leaves space to breathe, unwind and feel at ease.

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Design studio:
Projects: Noura’s Oasis • Sarah’s Downtown Views • Elevated Stripes
Photography:

Things that made me look twice in Bangkok.Scale, repetition, unexpected colour, ageing materials, craftsmanship and the ...
18/09/2026

Things that made me look twice in Bangkok.

Scale, repetition, unexpected colour, ageing materials, craftsmanship and the way completely different elements sometimes sit together beautifully.

I photograph these things almost instinctively when I travel. They may have nothing to do with a project I’m working on at the time, but I think our visual vocabulary is built from everything we absorb along the way.

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Design studio:

08/09/2026

Behind the scenes at Maison Terra for .

A glimpse into everything that happens around the finished photographs: styling the final details, getting camera-ready, filming the house tour, and inevitably being upstaged by the smallest member of the household.

Maison Terra, Dubai.

ꓚ I T I ꓛ

Design studio:
Project: Maison Terra

Bespoke furniture:

How personal should the most personal spaces in a home become?Bathrooms, dressing rooms and walk-in wardrobes inevitably...
06/09/2026

How personal should the most personal spaces in a home become?

Bathrooms, dressing rooms and walk-in wardrobes inevitably respond more closely to the individual. They are shaped by personal rituals, preferences and the small decisions that make a space particularly satisfying to use.

Yet I don’t believe personal should mean overly specific. Designing every detail around one person’s habits can feel like the ultimate luxury, but a home also needs longevity. These rooms should belong to the architecture of the house, rather than becoming so particular to one owner that they make little sense to the next.

I’m interested in that balance between personalisation and investing in longevity. I think luxury lies in getting that balance right.

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Design studio:

Projects: Various

A quick step away from Dubai, this time to San Francisco, California.Taking myself out of my daily environment has alway...
02/09/2026

A quick step away from Dubai, this time to San Francisco, California.

Taking myself out of my daily environment has always been part of my creative process. Distance gives me the space to step back from everything happening in the studio and look at it again with fresh eyes.

When I travel, I exercise the habit of looking for hidden treasures, unexpected combinations and the details that collectively create the character of a place. Architecture, interiors, art, books, objects, materials, fashion; all seemingly unrelated, yet somehow forming one visual language.

San Francisco was particularly good for this. From the layered interiors of San Francisco Proper Hotel and architecture and design books at William Stout Architectural Books, to art at Scott Richards Contemporary Art, Jackson Square, Cavallo Point Lodge, vintage discoveries and the Golden Gate disappearing into the fog.

Perhaps that is what I value most about travel: it reminds me that creativity rarely comes from looking in one place. It comes from collecting fragments of the world and allowing them to become something entirely your own.

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26/08/2026

A first glimpse of our latest project, Marwa’s Soft Loft.

This one takes our usual language somewhere a little bolder — sculptural forms and strong stone surfaces, layered with clay, dusty pink and deep burgundy. A palette that feels both feminine and masculine, and perhaps one of our more unexpected homes to date.

Our fifth home for the same family, which makes this one particularly special. Now finished and waiting to be photographed — we cannot wait to share the final result.

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Design studio:
Project: Marwa’s Soft Loft

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why so many people want their homes to feel like hotels.It comes up surprisingly o...
19/08/2026

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why so many people want their homes to feel like hotels.

It comes up surprisingly often with clients. Yet when you look more closely at what they actually want, it rarely seems to be the hotel aesthetic itself. They still want a home that feels personal, layered and unmistakably theirs.

Perhaps what we envy is the way a good hotel makes life feel easier. The lighting works. There is somewhere for everything. The practical side of living disappears into the background, leaving us to simply enjoy the space.

Maybe when we ask for the comfort of a hotel, what we are really asking for is not a style at all, but a home that asks a little less of us.

I’m writing about this at the moment and would love to hear your thoughts. What would you bring home from a great hotel, and what would you leave behind?

ꓚ I T I ꓛ
Design studio:
Projects: Maison Terra, Harbour Home & The Still Abode

Bespoke furniture:
Photography:

Address

Dubai Land, The Villa
Dubai

Opening Hours

Monday 09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 09:00 - 17:00
Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
Sunday 09:00 - 17:00

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