Dunie Stories
Our story
Our team
Established in 2020 by artist and designer Assel Nussipkozhanova and her husband, an architect Akhat Baimenov Dunie initially was dedicated to creating furniture and household objects in collaboration with local artisans and craftspeople. Three stars on the logo of the brand symbolised Assel’s family of three and a dream to touch the stars. In three years Dunie created and did an art direction of several projects (Gazhap Dunie exhibition, Auyl restaurant, etc) in areas of art and design in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
In the end of 2023 the brand went through structural changes expanding its team and the direction of the work. Currently Dunie is a female run Almaty based design studio.
Assel Nussipkozhanova
Co-founder of Dunie Design, multidisciplinary designer, artist and co-founder of ASSEL brand, a mom of Sara, a graduate of BA in Fashion design of Istituto Marangoni Milano (2014). Assel dreams of developing a textile lab and local manufacturing inspired by traditional Central Asian techniques.
Ruana Esengosova
Co-founder of Dunie Design. With a background in International Management and Japanese Art, she has always been passionate about heritage and culture. After living for 14 years in the UK, she has come back to Almaty with dreams of establishing Dunie as an international Central Asian brand and gaining more insight into her roots. When she’s not juggling motherhood, she likes to watch anime, write teenage angst romances and send cat memes to her loved ones.
Aïda Adilbek
Conceptual director of Dunie Design, a multidisciplinary artist and curator, MFA graduate of Goldsmiths, University of London (2020). Aïda’s main artistic mediums are text, performance and film.
Yulo Khan
Art director of Dunie Design, a photographer, co-founder of musical platform ALALA, a graduate in MA in Photography of Ecal Cantonale de’Lausanne (2018), BA in Visual communication and Photography of IED Milano (2016) and BA in Marketing of KIMEP (2013). Main mediums in her artistic practice are photography, graphic design and printing.
Aiya Sapar
Designer at Dunie Design and an artist of many talents. Her mediums are photography, digital illustrations and collages. She finished CCW Foundation in Arts and Design and decided to take a break from academic education to learn in practice first and has been in Dunie Team for three years. Her aspiration is to keep an open heart at the most difficult times to come.
Yerke Alimbekova
Junior management assistant at Dunie. She graduated from the College of Foreign Languages with major in Marketing with advanced English. Her interests are scattered like stars in the galaxy: from music to football. She is madly in love with astrology and perceives life as a great journey of self-discovery through art and culture.
