When an inherent love of helping people followed by years planning parties for friends pays off, the result is Seven42 Studio – an ultra-boutique events company founded by George Daccache.
Serendipitously named – firstly because his niece was born at 7.42pm on the day George decided to officially launch Seven42 Studio, “and because Seven42 is 24/7 backwards, and I’m known to work 24/7” – the studio, which opened in February, feels like a breath of fresh air in a city where events companies are a dirham a dozen.
What truly distinguishes Seven42 Studio is a more subtle eye and an intuitive methodology that crafts events both acutely personalised and intimate, despite the size of the guest list. But its true secret weapon is George.
The thirty-something Lebanese owner is not perhaps your typical event planner. “I’m very quiet and extremely reserved,” he laughs. “You won’t see me out and about in Dubai. I’m out when I have an event, and when I don’t, I’m at home recharging. Even during my events, I’m always on the side, hiding somewhere, observing from afar.”
What George has in spades is passion, creativity, and a fastidious attention to detail. This last is a happy holdover from his youth – back then, you’d have found George tidying up the house before friends came over, “making sure the cushions were just right,” and staying behind at school recess “to organise the classroom and make sure everything’s neat,” he smiles. “I had an obsession for perfection, and now I’m putting it to good use.”
Wanting each event to “feel personal, thoughtful, a little bit unexpected,” George asserts that “aesthetics are very important to me.” He has an instinctive ability to intuit what his clients might want and need – or see – before they do. “Most of my clients won’t notice a wire dangling out of a socket or a cable running under a carpet, but I do,” he states. “In fact, I’d go with a supplier that has a battery-operated machine just to ensure nothing shows!”
In tandem with his meticulous mise-en-scène, it’s George’s ability to strip out the stress for his clients – from orchestrating an intimate housewarming to a 400-guest wedding in Beirut – that has seen the likes of La DoubleJ, a high jewellery house and luxury beauty brand, turn to him to mastermind their events.
“Our customer service is really, really good,” he shares. “We’re always available and we take care of every single thing. My objective is for the client to literally not do a thing – to just send me a voice note saying what they want, and I’ll make it happen.”
“I mean, you’ve seen the memes on social media – wedding planning is not as fun as it sounds, right?” he quips. “So, I’m trying to eliminate that to actually make the process fun, transparent, and very stress-free. Because it’s meant to be a fun process.”
Proof of success in George’s “passion-project-turned-side-hustle-turned-full-time thing” is that many of his clients become friends. “You spend weeks with them, so you get very attached. Then you get separation anxiety the day after the event!” he laughs.
Despite an evident aptitude for his craft, George says he did experience the typical nerves of someone launching a business. He previously founded PYCKD, an e-commerce marketplace for local, handmade products, but this is his first time going out on his own.
“It’s my first business when I’m not relying on anyone else. I’m completely independent,” he explains. “I’ve always questioned myself, and my biggest challenge is self-doubt, wondering, ‘Can I do it? Who am I? I’ve only been doing it for a few weeks, will people think I’m a fraud?’ But I had a hunch that this would work, because this is something I’m really good at. I can do anything and everything required, and I can do it on my own.”
George partly has his brother Christian (Daccache, founder of Bureau des Créateurs) to thank for finally taking this leap of faith. “He’s the one who pushed me to take that jump – he almost forced me into it,” he smiles. “I have the courage, but sometimes you just need someone to push you over the edge, and then you continue running.”
Just a few months in, with an event in Tuscany on the cards, George has big plans for Seven42 Studio. But, as you might expect, they are quietly considered ones. “We are intentionally a boutique event studio. While I do see Seven42 Studio growing, I don’t want to become a high-volume agency where we’re so big that I’m not hands-on with the projects anymore,” he explains. “Because that’s originally why I started this… I wanted to create a moment, an emotion. And I feel that, if someone else is doing it, I’ll get jealous – the FOMO effect!”
For the time being, George’s focus for Seven42 Studio is simply doing what he loves – helping people, honing his impeccable attention to detail and making sure his clients are happy – 24/7.
