Design
House
- 2013 /
- 2014 /
- 2015 /
- 2016 /
- 2017
Exhibition
Decadence by Nada AlYafaei
Sand De-Formation by Talin Hazbar
Talin builds off nature by freezing sand’s harmonious composition using a solidification process.
Details in the Fabric by Khalid Mezaina
Khalid uses vernacular fabrics as a canvas to explore contrasting visuals. The byproduct of
the layered visuals gives rise to new messages.
Untitled by Layan Attari
Layan talks to people about food in attempts to find out more about their lives. The project showcases people’s stories, summarized.
Type Hybrids by Möbius Design Studio
This project presents a contemplation of typography through illustrated letterforms. Mobius impose specific behaviors on letters in both Arabic and English to explore new ways of matching typography.
The Shrine by Tulip Hazbar
A book that showcases Tulip’s compulsive habit of collecting objects. This project attempts to clarify her progression of interest over the years.
Workshops
Lattice making for shading workshop by Parmis
Type-Illustration Hybrids by Hala Al-Ani & Hadeyeh Badri
Sand De-formation workshop by Talin Hazber
Fat Lines by Faysal Tabarra
Stamping Kufi Workshop by Najla Al Bassam
Bookbinding for beginners workshop by Salama Nasib
Introduction to Polymer Clay by Akram & Lina Al Amoudi
Exhibition
Atlas of Music Analogies by Tulip Hazbar
Tranquility Node by Talin Hazbar
Kinetic Behaving Typography by Mobius Design Studio
"-NESS" by Faysal Tabbara
"SANAM" - by Bahar AlBahar and Laith Mahdi
Terracotta Families by Xeina AlMalki
Seeing by Nasser AlZayani
Workshops
Crafting Leather by Bahar AlBahar and Laith Mahdi
Kinetic Typography by Hala AlAni and Riem Ibrahim
Pinch and Slab Pottery by Xeina AlMalki
Stenciling Kufi by Najla AlBassam
Sa-and Light by Talin Hazbar
Everyone Can Draw by Nasser AlZayani
What is considered change? In its simplest forms, change is a shift, a development or a deterioration, a revision, or a redefinition, a transformation, an adjustment, an evolution, a revolution. Change is often instigated by curiosity and imagination; curiosity to find answers to unsolved mysteries and/or an imagination that goes wild, beyond what currently is to what could potentially be. Change starts with an observation, a question; a critical, uncompromising eye.
It has been this year’s DH participants’ mission to investigate the conditions of a location and a group of people, “an X”, then propose design-driven solutions that address an existing short-coming or uncover hidden potentials that could perhaps support, improve the quality of life, or give voice to their X. This has been nothing short of a challenge; starting points are often elusive, especially if the process requires engaging with others outside one’s circle; be it governmental entities, communities that do not share the same language, or individuals that are skeptical of one’s motivations. A good place to start, however, is by defining the problem, and employing different research methods to learn as much as possible about one’s subject matter.
Design House 2016 continues to ask difficult questions about the city of Sharjah and its residents, provoking reactions by opening channels of feedback to the exhibited proposals. The audience are invited to reflect and share their thoughts and opinions about the validity of the problems/solutions with the designers who continue to develop their research over the duration of the exhibition. This more open format is intended to assist designers in refining their parameters of change based on direct responses from members of the community, and hopes to lead the audience to start questioning their role in igniting change and how they can be part of this investment in people and in place.
The Little Ambassadors by Mays Albeik
Addressing an observable divide between the different social circles of the Emirate of Sharjah, the project aims to bring together children from different backgrounds, and teaming them together to create collaborative stories. Using storytelling as the vehicle to bridge cultural gaps, the project targets children in schools of different demographics in the student body, bringing the different bubbled communities of Sharjah, and the UAE, together by their smallest common denominator: school children.
Nomadic Shadow by Juan Roldan Martin and Beatriz Itzel Cruz Megchun
The aim of this project is to visually represent an alternative space that is self regulated by inhabitants according to the temporary nature of their activities, their practices undertaken and their time invested. Therefore, we intend to explore how these dwellers work together in society in order to undertake their rituals and how their operations are structured by social agreements. Consequently, we can intervene a space to facilitate their activity through a urban design that act as a catalyst for their ritual. We aim to enrich the urban landscape of Sharjah through re-imagining the space using an intervention from the lens of immigrants.
Wajha: Shj Edition by Ali Almasri and Hussein Alazaat
Taking its name from the Arabic word for ‘facade’, Wajha’s design work mostly takes place on shopfronts. Bringing design into the public arena is important in a culture where design is not a priority but a luxury. Wajha uses facades to reshape the city’s identity through signage systems, hoping to stimulate a dialogue about the value of design in the community through social media platforms.
Emptyless by Ivan Parati, Emanuela Corti and Abdulwahab Alosaj
EmptyLess is a project that works alongside low-income communities, municipalities, private and public companies and volunteers to map, design, execute and manage self-sustained public spaces within the suburbs of the city. Empty plots in between residential and industrial spaces could be populated with positive and vibrant activities that would revamp the community spirit of the neighborhood with the support of professional designers and planners in order to build up the basic infrastructure. During the series of activities people will be empowered to self-manage the space and perhaps expand the project to further spaces.
Adaptive Space by Cristiano Luchetti
The area of Muwaileh is a very recent settlement rapidly built in the last few years. A common feature of the area is the dramatic lack of essential infrastructures and services. Muwaileh is next to an industrial compound and it is nestled between high traffic roads making it one of the cheapest neighborhoods to live in the entire region. The urban fabric is composed of many contrasting areas, ranging from middle class residential buildings to low‐rise labor housing. The inhabitants change the leftover spaces to adapt their needs, and the use of these spaces varies according to each area. An intervention on site aims at representing how inhabitants are the real designers of their public spaces. The idea is to project the final match of the cricket world championship 2016 on one of the many blank facades of blocks built without an organic development plan. This event will turn an apparent left over space into the main public area of the neighborhood for a limited amount of time.
Little Syria in The Heart of Sharjah by Reem Falaknaz and Tulip Hazbar
Sharjah’s fabric transforms with the region’s political status. It homes a large number of Arab migrants. The visible proliferation of Syrian restaurants and sweets outlets around the city over the past few years has therefore inevitably expanded the spectrum of where people go out to eat, or shop for their food.
We think it is important to document the city’s changing and welcoming landscape. This research-based body of work will take a form of a publication that focuses on the Syrian food experience in Sharjah and its relationship to memory, where the documentation becomes a tool for contesting the systemic destruction of the homeland and the transnational nature of borders, offering a refuge from a rather new and current state of exile.
Stitchanonymous by Ola Dajani
Stitchanonymous is a community project that seeks to enable domestic workers to express their individuality through participation in a collective creative process. The project targets a specific group who are often looked down upon and aims to change the perception of their value and abilities. Participants will receive a kit with the essential materials needed to stitch a small piece of fabric that is approximately 20x20 cm. The culmination of the makers’ embroidery pieces will be available for sale and all sale proceeds will go directly to the makers.
Weltformat DXB is a collaboration between Tashkeel, Welformat (a collective of graphic designers from Lucerne), Cairo-based designer Engy Aly and Mobius Design Studio’s Design House, with the support of Pro-Helvetia Cairo.
The title of the exhibition, Weltformat DXB, is derived from the unique poster format (90.5 x 128cm), traditionally used since the late 1950s in the internationally acclaimed Swiss graphic design field. The exhibition attempts to transform a basic position into an inclusive and generative platform. The context is framed by two exhibitions; ‘Swissed’ and ‘Delusions & Errors’ as part of Dubai Design Week 2017 and make up the fifth edition of the Design House initiative. The exhibited poster collection showcases Swiss designers across many generations joined by 29 emerging designers from the MENA region. It aims to initiate a conversation without expectation, providing exposure of contemporary poster design to the general public. Experience a high level of craftsmanship, attention to detail and clarity of vision that goes into creating imagery that transcend mere functionality and immediate context; breathing an alternate life into otherwise inanimate objects.
Questions have been a motivating force in the development of civilizations since their inception. However, the process of questioning has historically taken different forms; including Socratic Questioning, the dialectical method, analytical philosophy and various forms of hermeneutics. Our interest lies in allowing questions to take an organic form that is intrinsic to the process itself. This means much like the way a plant grows, or a single cell multiplies, or a volcano explodes, the process is a synthesis of known and unknown qualities. The way this translates practically is embracing that any organic process includes blemishes, errors and unexpected surprises, which can become a productive part of the work. We began our title with the word ”Delusions” to point to how all systems are partially fictional, and we finished with “Errors” to underline that within a fictional system there can be no absolute right or an absolute wrong.
Today, we find ourselves in a rather dark and absurd human situation, where everyone craves particular answers, longing to be “right”. To position oneself opposite to one another, however, one must assume a truth and a reality of one’s own. While this assumption provides us with security and affirmation, it denies equally viable parallel universes. Here, however, we are choosing not to carry the delusion of righteousness, and are inviting you to play with the notion of infinitude, error and insanity. This is a ride through skepticism and doubts, wonders and marvels, delusions and errors. Errors that we ask you to embrace in search of new answers. The mediator and object of design here is a poster: no longer a commodity, these thin sheets are animated with a life of their own. Similar to us, they thrive: they are analyzed, misinterpreted, used and/or abused, their viability always tethered to heavy, yet genuine participation of others. The posters are to capture the nuance of the author’s curiosity, contemplation and/or inspection in a form of a dichotomy. Interpretations are open: compassion and enquiry stem from the human, the voice, and the propeller of all meaning. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
> Accident vs Intention
> Author vs Onlooker
> Control vs Chaos
> Predictability vs Surprise
> Fact vs Fantasy
> Failure vs Accuracy
> Dismissal vs Acknowledgment
> Representation vs Implication
