Take A Tour Of Travel Journalist Hershey Gargash’s Feng Shui Home

With tibetan feng shui guiding the way, Hershey Gargash’s dubai home is awash with colour, middle eastern accents and a pursuit of balance and harmony

The home of Hershey Gargash in Al Khawaneej is an eclectic constellation of styles, but crafted with such a meticulous eye that every piece, colour and space has its exact place. As a freelance travel journalist, her trips, as you might expect, help inform her interior style, with artworks and objets d’art accumulated from around the world. “I love stories, and a little bit of life and history,” explains Hershey. “Your home is your tale and your story that you share with people, filled with pieces that expose your personality, as the things that inspire you in life make it into your home.”

Storytelling is evident throughout the seven-bedroom, two-storey villa – a bright, modern home centred around a Syrian-inspired courtyard. “I knew that I wanted all the rooms to be facing inner gardens,” she adds. “I find Syrian courtyards very peaceful inner sanctums where you can step away from all the chaos and really get in touch with your senses, from the sound of the water and the smell of the Jasmine or the lemons.”

The family moved in just before Christmas 2024, following two years of constructing the villa from scratch. It sits on a vast family plot – that will soon also be home to many of her husband’s family – a blank slate that allowed Hershey and her husband Yousuf to design their dream residence. Guided by the principles of Tibetan Feng Shui, creating an energy-infused living environment was imperative. “I wanted the house to be light and bright with really open spaces and high ceilings for the flow of energy.”

Hershey found her way to Feng Shui after she started doing reiki. “I then met my friend Anna Max, who is an architect and Feng Shui master, who taught me how important energy is.” Working closely with Anna, each side of the house is led by a different element: earth, water, air and fire. “There has to be a lot of stability and grounding energy with the earth side, and on the water side, there’s a lot of flowing water for clearing and purifying. And there’s general spacious energy and openness to keep the air circulating,” Hershey explains. Feng Shui elements are constants throughout: pictures and symbols of Garuda to ward of illness, Dorje symbols for good health, mandarin ducks and elephants to strengthen and harmonise relationships, the Evil Eye, and amethyst in most rooms “to keep the house calm and harmonious.”

While the house design is undeniably contemporary – layered ceilings, white walls and stone floors – there is a cosiness too, with each room designed for family gatherings of different kinds. A sunken lounge with deep sofas and a retractable screen for family movie nights; a 16-seat dining table from Home Figures for entertaining, flanked by artwork by Lamya Gargash, Sheikha Lateefa bint Maktoum and a ‘fertility statue’ of a lady in a bright yellow dress bought in South Africa; a library filled with books where Hershey reads to her children – Nourah, 5, Nyla, 3, and Eisa, 1; and an inner courtyard pool, with miniature palm trees and custom-made furniture and fabrics from Home Figures.

The majlis – on the circular side of the house – offers an elegant space for both entertaining and prayer, a Desroch chandelier framing the curvilinear lines of Home Figures sofas, and a triptych by Latvian artist Sandra Strele feeds into the water element. Around the corner, the artwork switches pace with the weather-worn faces of two Vietnamese ladies creating a striking contrast against the white walls. “They’re taken by a French photographer called Réhahn, who has lived in Vietnam for around 30 years,” explains Hershey. “He goes around different tribes and takes photographs of the eldest person and builds connections with them. We just love these old ladies.”

The more the house unveils itself, the more this sense of unexpectedness becomes expected – as old and new, colourful and neutral, modern and traditional familiarise themselves. It’s a playful nuance that fills the house with a good energy. “I like mixing my art. I think life is nice with different rich textures. I don’t like one style, because I think there are so many different layers to people and so many moods… Culture is a big thing. In the house, we’ve really got the African, Middle Eastern and Asian influences. I like the whole global mix.”

By the double-width wooden front door, there are evil eye vases from Crate & Barrel, the curved lines of two stone consoles, a chandelier bought in Dubai but imported from Turkey, and two boxes with buckles.

“As it’s the entrance way, I needed to put a piece in here that would trap negative energy,” Hershey explains. “But instead of just a box, I wanted to put more of a piece. They actually look more like chests that you can sit on, with buckles. Luckily my children haven’t worked out how to open them yet!”

A custom-made chandelier from UAE-based Chic Casa leads the way upstairs, suspended silver pebbles that place circles in the centre of the house to bring balance. Designed almost like an independent apartment, with its own kitchen, dining area and lounge, the second floor is the hub of family life, with a wall filled with multi-generational photos, muted hues, soft lighting and Samovar rugs. One of Hershey’s favourite artworks hangs over the dining table, a photograph of Oman’s coastline by Khalid Alsaabri bought at Sikka art fair last year. “I truly love this piece because I have a deep connection with Oman,” she explains. “I love the serenity of the water. It’s one of my top three countries.”

Like the rest of the house, the three children’s bedrooms follow the principles of Feng Shui, with flamingo wall art in one to denote water and a Wall Zen safari mural in oranges and browns in another on the Earth side of the house. The playroom – in all its ice cream-tone glory – is every child’s fantasy, imagined by Nathalie Khouri, founder of Ralee Designs, with slide, climbing wall, monkey bars and ball pit.

Hershey and Yousuf’s bedroom is a calm zone – his ’n’ hers walk-in wardrobes, a vanity room, a hand-knotted Iranian silk green carpet bought from SAWA Furniture, and a specially commissioned artwork of horses above the bed in earthy tones by Iraqi artist Abeer Al Edani. Nine horses, in fact, because “We’re a ‘number nine’ house according to its Feng Shui Kua number, which is determined by the year it was built or first occupied and helps define the home’s energy pattern and compatability with the people living within it. So I’m trying to replicate the number – nine waterfalls in the garden, nine horses in the painting upstairs,” Hershey smiles.

Despite being in the house just a few months, it’s 70 per cent of the way there, says Hershey. Plans for Yousuf’s outdoor majlis are underway, complete with a “boys’ toys” area outside and an office upstairs. “We’re also adding a BBQ area and huge firepit, and I want to finish the terrace outside my reiki and yoga studio so that I can host more community gatherings.” Describing herself as an introvert/extrovert, she says “I like serenity and my own time, but I also like to gather like-minded people together.”

The home Hershey has created is ideal for conversant interpretation – as cosy nooks ripe for reflection commingle with styled spaces that deserve an audience. It’s an intuitive approach that feels inherent rather than learned, a well-trained eye honed through years working in fashion and media, infused with travels that have taken her to 55 countries to date – the most recent, a trip to Bhutan. And it’s through this global lens that this vibrant Al Khawaneej villa has found its artistic rhythm, as colour and culture collide through Emirati, African and Asian inflections. Feng Shui creating a holistic harmony, with an unbridled energy that’s all Hershey’s own.

Photography by Aasiya Jagadeesh. Styling by Marguerita Christoforidis

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia Interiors’ Spring 2025 issue.