RIYADH: Dina Alduraibi has made her mark on the world of interior design with her work inspired by Thamudic inscriptions. Her work at the “Inner Circle” coffee shop in Riyadh has gained popularity and enabled people to witness the sophistication of Alduraibi’s artistic skills and vision. Alduraibi graduated with a bachelor’s degree in interior design from Princess Nourah bint Abdul Rahman University in Riyadh in 2016. Her work has a footprint in several locations in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, as well as in other places internationally. Alduraibi’s passion for design and art started before her graduation — even as a youngster she would produce black and white portraits and digital drawings. “I used to draw depending on my mood, abstract, portrait, anything that involves art, I like to try. I also like sculpture art,” Alduraibi told Arab News. Alduraibi first started sharpening her skills in interior design in 2015 while she was still a student, participating in small projects in which she gave consultations on interior designs for restaurants. “Studying interior design is 100 percent different from the reality of it. In the beginning, it was challenging dealing with clients,” she said. Alduraibi’s experience included organizing and managing the entire project team while designing and meeting clients’ expectations. “The first obstacle I encountered during my first project, I cried,” she said. Alduraibi is able to smile now as she recalls her early experience as a designer. Alduraibi talked about her visit to AlUla, where she was working on three projects. It was then that the Thamudian inscriptions captured her attention and she was inspired by the archaeology at AlUla. She included archaeological inscriptions in her artwork and added extra dimensions with this distinctive style. In her work Alduraibi relied on the data of the “Thamudian inscriptions,” making the final execution an oasis, an escape, that combines the past with the present. “It was during the time when we started to recognize AlUla. It was fascinating, the Thamudian inscriptions, the drawings ... I like things that began or existed here more than modern designs,” Alduraibi said. Alduraibi said that her aim while working on the the Inner Circle coffee shop project was to embody the soul of AlUla. “We incorporated stones, I added a sculptor to represent AlUla,” she said. Inner Circle was the gateway to three other projects. These are similar in concept to Inner Circle but located in AlUla. After she designed Inner Circle, the Royal Commission for AlUla contacted her to use the beauty of the ancient site and execute three projects there, including for a restaurant with a Thamudian theme. Although Alduraibi’s designs can be seen in Europe, such as her work on a hotel project in Romania, she believes that there is much more of Saudi Arabia that she would like to discover and display to the world.