Lujain Abulfaraj, founder of Twothirds Design Bureau and Akwan

Many local brands were reliant on foreign agencies that didn’t understand the region, so Lujain Abulfaraj built a studio to close that gap. More than a decade after co-founding Twothirds, whose client list runs from Cartier to the Royal Commission for AlUla, she is now building Akwan, a children’s brand designed to make Arab kids fall in love with their own language through play.

Lujain Abulfaraj, co-founder of Twothirds and Akwan: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Lujain Abulfaraj (LinkedIn), co-founder and partner at Twothirds Design Bureau, founder and director of Akwan, and member of the Industrial Design Association. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM: Walk us through your journey as an entrepreneur.

Lujain Abulfaraj: I started during my final year at the American University of Sharjah, when I co-founded Watad Magazine with colleagues from the College of Architecture, Art and Design. What drew me to entrepreneurship was the combination of solving a problem I believed in, building a community around it, and using design in a meaningful way. I also enjoyed the creative freedom that came with leading a project.

The biggest challenge was balancing creativity with structure. A good idea needs to become an executable product, a capable team, and a sustainable business model. I learned to put clear systems in place and make decisions based on priorities, while preserving the creativity that drives the work.

E: Where did the ideas for Twothirds and Akwan come from?

LA: For Twothirds, my partner, Sara Alarif, and I saw a gap in the market for a design studio that understood the local context while meeting international standards. Many companies were working with foreign agencies that lacked an understanding of the region and its culture. We wanted to bridge that gap and help ambitious local brands express themselves and compete globally. That is how Twothirds began, and more than a decade later, it continues to follow the same approach. We have since worked with organizations and brands including Cartier, the Culture Ministry, the Office of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, and the Royal Commission for AlUla, as well as developing the identity for Historic Jeddah.

The idea for Akwan came from noticing the limited availability of high-quality Arabic educational products that combine strong design, innovative ideas, and the joy of play. It was a personal discovery when my son’s nursery called to say he was crying and refusing to attend his Arabic class. I realized the problem wasn't necessarily the language itself, but how we were introducing it to children. That led to Akwan: designing products that speak to this generation and build a positive relationship with Arabic through play.

E: More than five years in, how has your vision for Akwan evolved, and how does it become a scalable cultural brand?

LA: The core vision hasn’t changed — to design toys that help children love the Arabic language and culture through play, while raising a globally minded generation that is proud of its identity. But I now see the opportunity as bigger than products. Akwan can become a cultural brand that builds worlds, experiences, and content around the Arab child. Scaling doesn’t just mean producing more toys; it means building strong intellectual property, a clear design philosophy, and products with lasting play value that can reach homes, schools, and global markets. The ambition is for Akwan to be an Arab-born, globally relevant brand that presents our culture in a contemporary, beautiful, and playful way — without reducing it to traditional symbols or making it feel instructional.

E: What's the hardest part of turning a creative idea rooted in Arab identity into a commercial product?

LA: The hardest part is preserving the spirit of the idea while turning it into a product that can be manufactured, priced, and sold at scale. Between the initial concept and the final product, there are decisions around materials, safety, cost, packaging, usability, and minimum production volumes. Sometimes, the product needs to be redesigned entirely to work commercially without losing its meaning. The biggest gap is that while the market may value design and identity in principle, it doesn’t always recognize the investment required to produce original, high-quality products. The ecosystem connecting designers with manufacturers, financing, safety testing, and intellectual property protection is also still fragmented. As a result, designers often have to take on roles well beyond their expertise to bring a product to market.

E: Does the Saudi market need more investment in the "design economy"?

LA: Absolutely. Design isn’t a finishing touch; it’s a tool for solving problems, increasing product value, improving user experience, and building brands that can compete globally. Investing in design means creating economic value and building intellectual property in Saudi Arabia, rather than simply improving how products look. The opportunity is to move from being a market that consumes what is designed elsewhere to one that designs, produces, and exports to the world. That requires investing not only in designers, but also in the infrastructure, funding, and manufacturing capabilities that can turn creative ideas into scalable products and businesses.

E: As a board member of the Industrial Design Association, what does the Kingdom need to build a fully integrated industrial design ecosystem?

LA: The first priority is connecting the players that currently operate in silos: designers, universities, manufacturers, investors, regulators, and R&D centers. An entrepreneur with an idea needs a clear path from concept to industrial design, prototyping, manufacturing, logistics, and market. Today, that journey can require building the network and expertise from scratch. We need an ecosystem that connects these capabilities and makes that process easier. Most importantly, support should not stop at the idea or prototype. We need to help products move through manufacturing, market entry, development, and ultimately scale locally and internationally.

E: How will AI reshape the national design industry — new opportunities, or pressure on the value of creative work?

LA: I believe it will do both. AI will significantly reduce the time needed for research, ideation, visual development, and testing different directions, giving designers and small teams capabilities that previously required much larger budgets and resources. At the same time, it will put pressure on repetitive or execution-focused work, because producing a polished image is becoming easier. This will increase the value of what AI cannot do on its own: asking the right questions, understanding people and cultural context, making decisions, and developing original, coherent ideas.

AI will not eliminate the designer, but it will change what defines a good designer. The value will increasingly lie in vision, creative judgment, and the ability to direct these tools — not execution alone. For Saudi designers, that creates an opportunity to develop a contemporary design language rooted in our own context rather than replicating what comes from elsewhere.

E: What are your ambitions for the future?

LA: Our ambition is for Akwan to become a leading brand for contemporary Arabic educational play, reaching children at home and in schools across the region and beyond. We want to build products, experiences, and intellectual property that help children engage with Arabic language and culture through play, while showing that Arab-designed products can be beautiful, innovative, and globally relevant.

E: You described yourself as a mother first and an entrepreneur second. How do you start your day, and how do you balance work with your daily responsibilities?

LA: Motherhood changed the way I see the world and shaped many of the questions that led to Akwan. I don’t believe in a perfect or fixed balance. Some days my children need me more; on others, work takes priority.

I usually start my day with exercise, then breakfast and planning. I prefer to handle strategic or focused work from home before going to the office, and I make a point of having lunch with my children and maintaining a clear routine at home. For me, balance is not about giving everything equal time every day, but being present where I am needed and understanding the priorities of each stage.

E: Which books or shows have influenced you?

LA: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success had a significant impact on me, although there are now questions around its author. I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam helped me manage my time after becoming a mother of two, while Traction by Gino Wickman is one of my favorite business books and led me to Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz, which I also love.

E: Outside of design, what is your favorite hobby?

LA: I love sports, particularly cardio activities such as running, skipping, and boxing. When I was at school, I competed in 100-meter races and was also captain of my school’s basketball team, so sport has always been a big part of my life. I also enjoy drawing, journaling, and junk journaling, using scraps, images, and anything that inspires me. I really enjoy spending time with my children too — having spontaneous, unstructured conversations or reading together. And, of course, I love reading.