SPLASH OF COLOUR
Cultural powerhouse Paula Al Askari combines modernity and tradition to awaken the senses in her Abu Dhabi home
Paula Al Askari’s Abu Dhabi home was designed by the architect Chakib Richani with huge double-height rooms and the main living room looking out over the swimming pool
The walls are painted a marron glacé shade in the main living room, which boasts 17th-century candelabras and paintings by Arabic artists including, above the mirror, one by Paula’s friend, Lebanese artist Marwan Sahmarani
As one of the most influential women on the Middle East’s cultural scene, Paula Al Askari leads a life balanced between tradition and modernity. And its backdrop is fitting: a spectacular avant-garde villa in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ capital, where the rooms overflow with antique treasures and contemporary art, testament to her talents as both collector and patron.
Born in the US to Lebanese parents, Paula is a self-described “citizen of the world” who moved from Beirut to Paris and from London to New York before settling in this cosmopolitan city. Her home here is a dazzling kaleidoscope of East and West.