Aya Charife

Short Biography

Aya Charife built her professional career as an interior architect and designer, working under her own practice, Donnaia Interiors, on conceptual residential projects designed around therapeutic and reflective living spaces. Alongside this, she developed a self-taught fine art practice, exhibiting paintings at several Dubai galleries from 2016 onwards, including Citizen E Art Gallery in Dubai Design District, FN Designs Art Gallery at Alserkal Avenue, Studio Seven Gallery in Business Bay, and Kobo Online Art Gallery. Her jewellery design work, rooted in themes of Arabic maritime history and arabesque ornamentation, earned her the 55Fifty7 Diamond Studio Prize in 2017 and a finalist place in the GIT Global Award in Thailand in 2020 for her piece 'Mask'. Her product design practice, which explores the relationship between human behaviour and the natural environment through sustainable materials, won her the Emirati Futurism Award for Product Design in 2023, following her win of the inaugural RADO Star Prize UAE in 2019 for her project 'Takyeef'. She has been featured extensively in regional and international press, and has hosted morning shows on Dubai TV, SAMA Dubai TV, and Fujairah TV.

Exhibitions

Aya has shown her paintings at a number of galleries across Dubai. Her participations include Citizen E Art Gallery in Dubai Design District (2016), where her calligraphy-themed work was exhibited, FN Designs Art Gallery at Alserkal Avenue, Dubai (2017), Studio Seven Gallery in Business Bay, Dubai, in collaboration with a gallery in Pakistan (2017), where her piece 'Dead Sea', made of sand and gravel on wood, was shown, and Kobo Online Art Gallery, UAE (2017).

Awards

Aya has received a number of awards across design disciplines. In 2023, she won the Emirati Futurism Award for Product Design, presented by the Dubai Future Foundation and Dubai Culture. In 2019, she won the inaugural RADO Star Prize UAE during Dubai Design Week, for her project 'Takyeef', an outdoor air conditioning element constructed from sustainable materials in a repeating arabesque pattern. In 2017, she received the 55Fifty7 Diamond Studio Prize, a local national award for jewellery design. In 2020, she was named a finalist in the GIT Global Award, an international jewellery design award presented from Thailand, for her piece 'Mask'.

Artistic Style

Aya's practice spans painting, jewellery, and product design, united by an abstract and conceptual approach. Her paintings range from mixed-media abstraction to work made from unconventional materials such as sand and gravel, often addressing emotional and social themes. Her jewellery designs draw on the history of Arabic maritime voyages, translating ornamental and arabesque forms into contemporary pieces that combine narrative and craftsmanship. Her product design work treats everyday objects as vehicles for ideas about ecology, sustainability, and human behaviour: pieces such as 'Atrophy', 'Tribulessence', 'Rayyan', and 'Takyeef' are built from natural and recycled materials including silica, bamboo, cotton, and concreted fibre, each carrying a conceptual narrative about the relationship between people and their environment. 'The Aya Element', a convertible table and seat made from intersecting wooden boards, draws on a quote by the late Sheikh Zayed on the balance between individual and public freedom.

Additional Information

Aya's work has been featured in a wide range of regional and international media, including Gulf Today, Al Khaleej Today, The Arab Weekly, The Executive Magazine (UK), ID Prestige Magazine (Morocco), Volta Magazine (Greece), Covered Magazine (South Africa and Italy), Golden Business Magazine (Iran), Dubai PR Network, Zimbio, and AlQMAA. She has hosted morning television segments on Dubai TV, SAMA Dubai TV, and Fujairah TV. Her interior architecture and design practice operates under the name Donnaia Interiors, with separate portfolios for her painting and product design work available through her personal channels.