LOCAL KNOwLEDGE
GOOD LIFE / Comptoir 102 is both a café offering a menu of simple, heathy cuisine and a lifestyle boutique
Emma Sawko, one of Comptoir 102’s two founders, swears she’s exhausted, having returned from a buying trip to Paris Fashion Week at 2am the night before our meeting, but her skin is glowing and her eyes are bright as she describes the process of growing the one year-old business she has built with her business partner,
Alexandra de Montaudouin. Both women are originally from France; De Montaudouin once worked for the exclusive Sotheby’s auction house in Paris, while Emma was blissfully installed in New York, pursuing her dream job in children’s fashion. And when their husbands’ careers demanded moving families to Dubai, they
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Open skies / april 2014
were both determined to build something in their new home. They met through a circle of expats and, bonding over their love of design, soon became fast friends and business partners, setting out to bring something new to Dubai. They affectionately refer to the emirate as “the city of opportunity”, because, they