FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR

An international luxury interior architectural designer with a proven record of 18 years in 5 star hospitality new builds and refurbishments. Liza’s personal style is a combination of contemporary and traditional influences, fully understanding the guest experience from a first-hand perspective. Founder of M Atelier in 2016, Liza spent the previous decade under interior design leaders including HBA and Wilson Associates. Living around the globe designing for major brands – Hilton, Shangri-la & Intercontinental – she realised projects across Europe, Asia and Australia. The M Atelier team comprises an equal level of global experience and perspective inspiring a diverse selection of influences that are utilized for projects of any style, promising innovative solutions and outstanding interior experiences.

M.A. Interior Architecture & Technology, London Metropolitan University

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Darren Sharland’s 20 year global interior architectural design career began from a technical documentation base evolving quickly to conceptual design and design management specialisation for luxury hospitality and Food & Beverage. Developing his design and management skills within some of the worlds leading luxury hospitality practices - GA Design, Chada, and HBA - Darren utilises well developed hand sketching abilities to conceptualise and study his vision before implementing robust highly effective design processes in moving his concepts through to thorough documentation. Darren’s versatility is evident in his classical and contemporary luxury hotel design portfolio where detail and consideration of services is of the essence.

B.A. Interior Architecture, Boston House University

FF&E DIRECTOR

Originating out of Lisbon, Portugal, Tania moved to Dubai in the late 80’s where she watched first-hand a small untouched city rapidly expanding into one of the biggest and most attractive metropolises in the world. For the past 20 years, Tania has worked and managed numerous 5-Star Hotels and F&B projects, as well as high end residential developments. Joining M Atelier after Godwin Austen Johnson, Wilson Associates, Broadway Interiors and more, she has developed an approach to design particularly tailored to delivering unexpected originality. Striving to communicate the meaningful message of connectivity, innovation, creativity and beauty through her design language.

B.A. Interior Architecture, London Institute of Interior Design

ASSOCIATE DESIGN DIRECTOR

Driven by her passion for design and art, Tia’s multifaceted career has taken her from designing hospitality projects and managing large-scale international art & design fairs in Europe to the Middle East, where over the past 8 years she had the opportunity to lead luxury and award-winning projects for major hospitality brands and residential developers. A Finland native, Tia’s design sensitivity is strongly influenced by the Scandinavian nature and sense of calm, alongside her fondness for whimsy mid-century architecture and design. Currently based in Dubai, Tia has lived in several countries in Europe and travelled widely across multiple continents. Adding up to speaking several languages, Tia’s multicultural awareness has contributed to her keen understanding of cultural influences when creating and conceptualizing the visual narrative that forms the leading principle of the overall project.

B.A. (Hons) Interior Design with Distinction, The Glasgow School of Art

ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT DESIGNER

Porto based architect, Pedro Soveral Elias started his architectural education in Lisbon, Portugal. After years theorizing on the complex relationship of architectural representation and the meaning of visual identity on design and cinema, Pedro joined M Atelier’s team ,in which he has been expanding his creative boundaries and refining his design strategies. Passionate about space planning and meticulous concept approaches, Pedro’s collaborative process within each project’s context has proven his creativity has no limits.

M.Arch, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto

TECHNICAL PROJECT DESIGNER

As an architect in the Philippines, Joanne practiced her design and technical documentation skills for six years before moving to Dubai seeking global and broader knowledge in the design industry. Joanne has worked in middle to high end hospitality, residential and F&B projects , developing her skills in space planning, attention to detail, coordination, and technical documentation. Joining M Atelier provided her exposure to more global and demanding projects, allowing for an increasement of her skillset to develop each design and support the team more effectively.

B.S. in Architecture, Ateneo de Davao University, Philippines

ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT DESIGNER

Brazilian born architect and product designer, Gui has experience not only in creative & technical design processes but too in the emerging hands-on area of digital fabrication using algorithmic design tools to deliver products and spaces. He has had his hand in the realisation of notable public and interior spaces, installations of art & the design of products developed through the use of cutting edge technologies. Holding a Master of Science in Computational Design from the University of Campinas he believes deeply in the promise of our future generation of designers having dedicated time to lecture at the University Centre of Fine Arts São Paulo. Since joining M Atelier’s team in 2023, he has transferred those skills for the specialised luxury hospitality sector in space planning, concept design & technical documentation.

B.Arch &M.Sc, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of Campinas