As one of the many unique attractions that are being offered to residents and visitors from around the world this Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS), the Kids Pop-up Summer Market is turning out to be a popular spot for families looking for one-of-a-kind products for personal use or to decorate their homes and offices.
Since it opened on 30 July, the fantastic shopping experience has been drawing shoppers of all nationalities and ages to explore the lively marketplace setting at Dubai Festival City Mall, brought to DSS in collaboration for the first time with Little Majlis - an online creative community and specialist marketplace for handmade, artisan and boutique products, including personalized gift items made in the UAE. Kids Pop-up Summer Market is open at Festival Square until 15 August between 4pm and 10pm.

From furniture, clothes, accessories, dcor items and toys, to gifts, stationery supplies and much more Kids Pop-up Summer Market offers an enticing selection of merchandise by local and home-grown businesses and brands, many of whom support sustainability and utilise eco-friendly raw materials to design and create their diverse selection of rare and unusual products. UK national Anne-Marie, owner of Sassakmea, a fair-trade business that specialises in uniquely designed home dcor items such as lamps, mirrors, and art accessories from Indonesia, said: Everything I have is handmade from Bali. I am a fair-trade importer. I go the people who make things by hand. I source the suppliers, the artisans and I buy directly from them. Further, everything I have on sale here is made from natural materials; its all organic and sustainable and that is my business concept.
Many of items are wall art decorations. They serve as alternatives to pictures to give your walls an unusual look. All the materials that go into creating my products, for example wood, are obtained from sustainable resources, she added.

Melannie from Pure Candles Dubai another unique Little Majlis brand specialising in homemade candles, said: Pure Candles Dubai was born five years ago in Dubai when my youngest daughter me from school and said lets make eco-friendly candles. Making candles at home is definitely a time consuming process. All my candles are made of soy wax, which is an eco-friendly, natural product. It took me six months to perfect the right fragrance for soy wax but once you have got the basic recipes right, and you know which fragrances work with your wax, then the process gets easier.
The raw materials used in my products are all imported from different countries. However, I do make the candles at home in my kitchen with wax melting equipment that allows me to melt 30 kilos of wax at one given time. 30 kilos of wax can make around 166 candles of a certain size. I sell online with Little Majlis thats my online outlet and I have other clients as well. The starting price of my candles is AED 25 and they go up to AED 165, she added.

Another participating brand of Little Majlis - Camels by Chloe - offers residents and visitors the opportunity to pick up a colourful selection of local art paintings as souvenirs or home dcor. Owner of the brand and artist, Chloe, said: I paint all the camels by hand each one slightly different from the other. I do these on a commission basis as well depending on the requirements of my clients. Here at Kids Pop-up Summer Market, I have a selection of paintings that are on sale. The big ones featuring the cityscape are priced at AED 250. Smaller ones with simpler designs are AED 200 and AED 220. Each skyline is different too no two skylines in any of my creations will ever be the same because I paint them with a freehand.