The Unidentity Gallery: three weeks at 25hours hotel Dubai

We came for two weeks. We stayed three.

From 20 August to 10 September, Unidentity lived inside the lobby of 25hours Hotel One Central in Dubai. Our first pop up in a hotel. We called it The Gallery.

The idea was simple. Seven drops, from ESS001_Unveiling to ESS007_You, shown the way a museum shows its pieces. Every collection with its own story card, on black metal shelves, with space around it. Placed inside one of the most colourful hotel lobbies in Dubai. We liked that contrast. Something quiet in a loud room makes people stop.

Opening day: fifty totes in one hour

On 20 August we put fifty blank tote bags on a table with a box of markers.

They were gone in an hour.

People sat down, strangers next to strangers, and wrote whatever they wanted to carry out the door. Someone wrote "Don't be ashamed of who you are." Someone else just drew something random. Every bag left as a one of one, made by the person holding it. That hour is still my favourite part of the three weeks.

What people told us

Then the messages started. People who walked past the Gallery, people who saw it online, people who had never heard of Unidentity before the hotel.

Two things kept coming up. The quality: people picked up a tee expecting one thing and felt another. And the meaning: they read the story cards and understood what we are trying to say.

Then a third thing, almost every time. They assumed there was a big team behind this streetwear brand.

There isn't. It's me. With my wife, my family and my friends holding everything together when it needs holding. Hearing that the brand feels bigger than it is was the best compliment I could get.

Three weeks at 25hours Hotel One Central

None of this happens without the 25hours team. The way they treated us, from the first day to the last, is something I won't forget. They made Unidentity feel like a family member, not a stand in a lobby.

The Gallery was planned for two weeks. They decided to extend it by one more.

Special thanks to Oumayyah, Kathryn and Faramawy. You made a small brand feel at home in a big house.

What I take from it

A hotel lobby is a place people pass through. For three weeks, some of them stopped. They drew on a tote, read a story card, sent a message a few days later, bought an item.

That is what this brand is for. Not to tell you who to be. To give you a reason to stop for a second and decide for yourself.

If you missed the Gallery, every drop from the exhibition is in the Essence collection.

We are already thinking about the next space.

Jorge Grande.