I am Amanda D’souza, an interior designer in Dubai and the founder and principal designer of Euphoria Interiors, the studio I established in 2016. Over the past ten years, I have learned that a meaningful room first begins with understanding the people who will live, work, or spend time inside it.
I did not always know that interior design would become my career. That direction gradually emerged through my childhood creativity, my father’s encouragement, formal education, early client presentations, and the challenges of turning design ideas into completed spaces.
Keep reading to follow my journey from a shy and creative child to leading Euphoria Interiors through more than 100+ completed projects, including over 75 turnkey transformations.
How My Father Recognised the Designer in Me
I had no clear idea of the career I would eventually choose. Interior design was not something I had planned for myself.
At school, I was quiet, shy, and completely focused on my studies. I was a complete nerd and would never have volunteered to sing or dance on a school stage.
At home, however, my father saw a different side of me. He called me “the star of the house.” Around my family, I enjoyed dancing to Bollywood songs, singing, and expressing the confidence that rarely appeared in public.
I was also constantly drawing, oil painting, or finding something new to make. At the time, I did not connect these interests with a future profession. They were simply the things that made me happy.
My father recognized something more. He saw that beneath my reserved personality was someone who needed a creative way to express herself.
After watching me draw, paint and create Arts, he told me, “You are artistic and creative. You should try interior design.”
No one in my family came from a design or business background, so it was not an obvious career choice. But his encouragement gave me direction and led me towards interior design college.
From Interior Design College to Professional Practice
I studied interior design at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in Dubai.
When I entered college, I thought interior design was largely about beautification. I believed clients mainly wanted an attractive concept and an impressive presentation.
My first solo client showed me why that was not enough. A presentation can look beautiful and still be rejected when it does not reflect how the client lives or what they need from the space. Because I had arrived with a concept before listening carefully enough, the design entered repeated revision loops and reached a point where decisions could no longer be frozen with confidence.
College taught me how to develop concepts, mood boards and presentations. Practical experience taught me that each of those tools must communicate a clear and workable direction.
That lesson changed my process. I now begin by understanding how the client lives, what they already own, what they value and what they need the space to do. Only then do I begin developing the design.
Learning the Profession as a Trainee Designer
My professional journey began in July 2015 when I joined Design Work Portfolio as an interior design trainee. The following year, I trained at Hirsch Bedner Associates. Working beside senior hospitality designers sharpened my understanding of detailing, soft furnishings and the level of thought required to bring a complete concept together. Some of that early work was later featured in design publications.
These roles helped me understand the distance between presenting an idea and delivering a finished space.
A designer has to think beyond individual colours or finishes. Space planning, materials, lighting, furniture and construction decisions all need to support one another. I also learned that professional confidence does not come from having an immediate answer to every problem. It grows through investigating the space carefully, asking better questions, and remaining responsible for the result.
What Challenging Clients Taught Me About Trust
Working with different clients taught me that listening is essential, but so is knowing when to guide the conversation.
There is a sentence I have learned to say politely and without apologising for it: “Let me do my job.”
A home is personal, so every client deserves to feel heard. But listening does not mean agreeing with every instruction. A designer must guide decisions, establish boundaries and prevent the process from going around in circles.
When several family members are involved, I listen to everyone during the first meeting. After that, I request one main point of contact because a clear design cannot develop when conflicting instructions continue arriving from several directions.
The strongest projects depend on mutual trust. Clients should ask questions and understand why decisions are being made, but they must also allow the designer to apply the expertise they hired them for.
When that trust is absent, I would rather step back than continue with a working relationship that is wrong for either side.
How Growing Up in Dubai Shaped My Design Approach
I was born, raised, and educated in Dubai, and the city shaped how I understand people.
Families from many cultures live beside one another here, but their ideas of beauty, privacy, comfort, and luxury can be completely different. Polished marble may feel elegant to one family and too formal to another.
That is why I want to understand a client in detail, such as which chair has followed them through three homes, why the dining table is also used for work, and where the family naturally gathers at the end of the day.
Sometimes I even work with clients who do not share a language with me fluently. In those situations, I pay closer attention to how they move through the property, which details they respond to, and what they may be struggling to express. This ability to observe is as important to me as selecting materials or developing a layout. A designer cannot create a personal space without first learning how to understand the person.
Euphoria Interiors Dream of Giving Artisans a Wider Platform
My cultural awareness has also shaped a larger ambition for Euphoria Interiors. Skilled craftspeople in rural India and parts of Africa produce extraordinary work, yet many remain unseen by the international design world. In Rajasthan, for example, artisans create beautiful metal-leaf work. Their pieces may later enter the luxury market at much higher prices, while the original makers receive little recognition.
My ambition is not to imitate or copy their work. I want to introduce these artisans and their materials to an international audience while properly recognising the people, skills and traditions behind them.
I hope Euphoria Interiors can eventually give their craftsmanship a wider platform and bring it into thoughtfully designed homes without separating the finished work from the people who created it.
How My Husband Encouraged Me to Start Euphoria Interiors
Euphoria Interiors began after a difficult meeting early in my career.
I had gone to meet a prospective client about a restaurant in the Jumeirah area, close to the Burj Al Arab. I was still very early in my career, full of ideas and genuinely excited about what the space could become.
Then the client asked, “Do you have a trade licence?” I did not. At that stage, I was a young designer focused almost entirely on the creative work and still learning what it took to turn that passion into a formal company. The client made his doubts about me clear, and the meeting left me hurt.
My husband had taken time away from his office to accompany me. Afterwards, we sat in a coffee shop and discussed what had happened. He encouraged me not to let one difficult meeting stop me and convinced me to obtain the trade licence.
My father had pushed me towards interior design when I was younger. As I entered professional life, my husband became the person who continued encouraging me to move forward.
That conversation led to the establishment of Euphoria Interiors in 2016. What began as a difficult experience led to the decision to turn my passion into a company of my own.
The Project Showed Me Euphoria Interiors Was Working
The moment I realised I could carry a complete design journey came with the Wabi Sabi project.
I remained involved from the beginning to the final handover. I brought in freelancers for the 3D work and a few specialist stages, but the responsibility for coordinating and delivering the project stayed with me.
Standing inside the completed space after the handover gave me the proof I needed. I had taken a project from its earliest ideas through to completion and delivered what I had promised.
That was when Euphoria Interiors stopped feeling like only an ambition. I knew it was working.
How I Design for People Today
I do not repeat designs. Every Euphoria Interiors project includes significant elements created specifically for that client, property, and way of living. Once a distinctive structure, form, or feature belongs to one home, I do not copy it into another project simply because it worked well.
Repeatable design packages may be faster, but they are not how I want to work.
I also try to design beyond a client’s immediate needs.
One family wanted a dedicated children’s room, and I reminded them, “Your child will become a teenager in this room.” The room needed to work for the child at that moment without becoming unsuitable a few years later. Good design should support the way life changes, not only the way a space looks on the day it is completed.
Clients also work directly with me throughout the process. I remain involved from the first consultation through the design and project-management stages, and nothing reaches final approval without my review.
After ten years, more than 100 completed projects and over 75 turnkey transformations, understanding the client remains the starting point of every space I design.
Designs for the Heart, Spirit & Soul
Design cannot begin until I understand who you are.
True luxury is not only what someone sees when they enter a room. It is how naturally the room supports everyday life, reflects the people inside it and makes them feel.
That is why no two Euphoria Interiors projects should feel the same. No two people live in the same way, carry the same memories, or imagine comfort through the same details.
This is the meaning behind the line at the centre of our work: “Designs for the Heart, Spirit & Soul.”
Book a Design Consultation
Speak directly with the Euphoria Interiors team about residential, commercial, or luxury interior design in Dubai. Start the conversation on WhatsApp at +971 58 587 8796, reach us through the company’s contact page, or email sales@euphoriainteriors.com.
