publication (Arabic)

Once Upon
DESIGN:
New Routes
for Arabian
Heritage
Curated by Noor Aldabbagh
Index
Acknowledgements
01
Foreward by Director of
1971 Design Space
Giuseppe
Moscatello
Journey with
Gulf Designers
and Heritage
Noor
Aldabbagh
05
Travelling with
Sound Through the
Middle East
Neil van
del Linden
Al-Balad, The Historic
Core of Jeddah: a Time
Travelogue
Atef Alshehri
and Mercedes
Corbell
11
17
Once Upon DESIGN:
New Routes for Arabian
Heritage
Transcript of an Interview
with Sheikh Salem
Al-Qassimi in Arabish
Noor
Aldabbagh
63
30
03
Acknowledgements
H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi,
Member of the Supreme Council, Ruler of Sharjah
H.H. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al Qasimi,
Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah
Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi,
Chairperson of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq)
Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan,
Ministry Of Culture & Knowledge Development
H.E. Marwan bin Jassim Al Sarkal,
CEO of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq)
Director Giuseppe Moscatello
Exhibition Curator Noor Aldabbagh
Assitant Curator Mouza Almatrooshi
Exhibition Designer Paolomaria Giannotti
Maraya Art Centre Coordinator Eiman Al Amri
Programme Manager Dana Al Sadek
Art Coordinator Roderick Jimenez
Public Relations and Communications Executive Yusur Al-Dabbagh
Editing and Translation in Arabic Maryam Wissam (ila al amam)
Design Coordinator Noor Abu Hijleh
Digital Marketing Coordinator Faisal Mohammed
1
Operations
Wael Itani
Jassim Safar
Programme Advisors
Indira Barve
Laila Al-Hamad
Mercedes Corbell
Neil van der Linden
Sheikh Salem Al-Qassimi
Special Thanks
Aaliah Alaali
Abdulla Awadi
Alia bin Omair
Aljood Lootah
Al Sarooj General Maint. Cont.
Amer Aldour
Annabelle de Gersigny
Atef Alshehri
Beth Yoder
Chris Weaver
Deena Houranieh
Eugenia Lopez Reus
Fari Bradley
Hadeyeh Badri
Hamad Khoory
Hashem Montasser
Haydar Hindi
Hind bin Demaithan
Karim Sultan
Khalid Mezaina
Kholoud Sharafi
Khulood Thani
Leila Bin Gacem
Majid Al Essa
Miguel Jaime
Mohammed Kazem
Peter Byebieraggaard
Sally Denton
Riem Hassan
Sheikh Khalid Al Qassemi
Sumaya Dabbagh
Thuraya Arrayed
Zahed Sultan
Zeinab Al Hashemi
2
Giuseppe
Moscatello,
Director of Maraya
Art Centre and 1971
Design Space
We are proud to support this debut exhibition by
Banafsajeel in the U.A.E, a homegrown initiative
founded by Noor Aldabbagh, which provides a platform
for designers and artists in the Gulf to create and
present their work, and this falls in line with our
mission here at 1971 Design Space.
Curated by Aldabbagh, Once Upon DESIGN: New
Routes for Arabian Heritage features seven installation
which are new and locally produced commissions that
offer a contemporary outlook on Arabian customs and
traditions. Different paths have been laid out in the
Arabian Peninsula throughout generations, due to
its history and influx of various cultures, intersecting
and adding layers to traditional customs, and in
turn creating new ones that are now more apparent
and recognised in society.
This exhibition showcases some of these traditional
elements via mediums of architecture, product design
and graphic design. A select group of designers have
collaborated across disciplines to develop interactive
works that examine age-old traditions and customs
with a contemporary lens and propose new routes and
sensibilities in response by enhancing or altering them.
Representing an innovative insight into the Gulf
contemporary design scene, the designers: Ayah
Al Bitar & Reem Hantoush (Saudi Arabia & U.A.E.),
COdESIGN (U.A.E. & Italy), Diana Hawatmeh (U.A.E.),
Latifa Saeed & Talin Hazbar (U.A.E.), LOCI Architecture
& Design Studio (U.A.E.), Think Tank Co. (Saudi Arabia),
and Studio Mieke Meijer (The Netherlands), all encourage
visitors to experience the exhibition through interacting
with the installations and choosing their own route
through the space.
Once Upon DESIGN is the result of a year of research
by Banafsajeel and 1971 Design Space, under the theme
of “Reinventing Heritage”. These works go beyond
the physical preservation or development of tangible
heritage; by focusing on advances in customs and oral
traditions familiar throughout the Arabian Peninsula,
which have been inherited, and that will continue to
be passed on, maintaining their true value despite
continual developments.
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4
Journey with
Gulf Designers
and Heritage
Noor Aldabbagh
Noor is the founder of Banafsajeel, a curatorial platform
that engages artists and designers through collaborative
projects in the Gulf. She has an honours BA from Harvard
in Visual and Environmental Studies, and a Masters
with Distinction from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art
in London in Art Business.
a new and growing design industry with creative and
commercial potential. There was a general frustration with
a lack of appreciation of the value of design beyond
the aesthetic in broader society. Finally, a yearning for
more criticality in discussion amongst designers in order
to meaningfully progress their work made evident a need
for better-structured design programmes. These should
address technical and practical needs of production
alongside conceptual concerns.
Once Upon DESIGN proposes to transform dominant
understandings of the heritage of the Arabian Peninsula
through the lens of contemporary design. Building on
ongoing research into design communities in
the Gulf, this exhibition is the culmination of a
year of research by Banafsajeel and the result of a
collaborative effort with 1971 Design Space in
Sharjah, and a select group of advisors and designers.
UNEARTHING
THE STORY
This research helped to reveal a common frustration
with simplistic heritage tropes in the Gulf, as well as
a superficial connection between designers and local
narratives in light of ongoing external design influences.
In particular, thoughtful contextual design is severely
lacking across design disciplines due to the dominance
of Western-oriented design education in the region.
When discussing the heritage of the Arabian Penninsula
with designers, it became apparent that icons of tangible
heritage, including traditional handicrafts such as Sadu
and palm weaving, inspired most of the designers
interviewed to a limited extent when compared to the
wealth of customs, behaviors and oral traditions which
they sought to explore around these objects.
The research conducted in the lead up to the exhibition
aimed to understand the needs of designers working
today across various design fields in the Gulf who had
displayed an interest in the heritage of this region.
A design programme was structured based on the input
of 30 designers interviewed including graphic designers,
architects, and product designers, as well as creative
professionals who work with designers such as curators
and programme managers.
Overall, the research found that a strong sense of
community connected designers on a social level,
especially in the U.A.E., with a shared optimism about
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6
CAPTURING THE
INTANGIBLE
Banafsajeel initiated a couple of focus groups hosted
at 1971 Design Space. The aim was to convene designers who
displayed a longer-term interest in the subject for a
collective conversation across design disciplines. Advisors
were invited to come onboard and give feedback on a
number of ideas presented by designers around the theme
of “reinventing heritage” some more experimental than
others. Everyday technical and practical production
challenges such assourcing suppliers and fabricators
were also shared and discussed.
Overlapping subjectivities about what constituted
“heritage” emerged from various vantage points, leading to
a growing interest in exploring the topic through a design
exhibition. Designers were invited to submit proposals
for new installations that could further their examination
of the subject, to be produced and exhibited in 1971
Design Space. Intangible heritage in particular presents
an interesting challenge: how can one materialize a
legacy of what one is quite literally unable to grasp or see,
but can only absorb through taking the time to feel,
listen and comprehend?
GETTING OUR
HEADS AROUND IT
Collaboration across design disciplines resulted in varied
imaginative ways of referencing and responding to
knowledge passed through generations within the Arabian
Peninsula. Designers were linked with advisors based on
their proposed works and had an opportunity to reflect on
their process and incorporate critical feedback.
By altering scale, manipulating pattern or symbolically
directing light, designers bring into play various temporal
trajectories and historical and social dynamics. In this
way, they create a sense of entering other moments and
spaces that are still undoubtedly here and now.
7
The exhibition utilises circularity and repetition in architecture
to denote the passing of time with reference to inherited
social practice, implying a seamless continuity or coming
full circle. Furthermore, within group interactions in the space,
the circular architectural structures also serve to create a
sense of community and collective experience.
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Publication Design
In addition to reflecting the works and designers’
processes, this publication presents a number of texts
relating to the topic of the exhibition: Firstly, Neil
van del Linden’s piece describes how sound is used in
two installations in the exhibition, and as a subject of
exploration and experimentation in the creative
scene in the Gulf and broader Arab region. This expands
directly on the subject of intangible heritage relating
to customs, oral traditions, and sound in the
Arabian Peninsula.
Secondly, playing on the idea of routes, a time
travelogue co-authored by Mercedes Corbell and
Atef Alshehri provides a guide through Al Balad, the
historic city core of Jeddah. This exhibition centers
geographically on the Arabian Peninsula, with Sharjah
being its gracious host and main vantage point
Therefore, a contribution was welcome from the
city’s geographical counterpart on the Western coast
of the Peninsula.
Finally, a sample of the research leading up to the
exhibition is included. Thirty interviews were conducted
in order to structure the “Reinventing Heritage” design
programme leading up to the exhibition. The example
included herein is a transcript of an interview with
Sheikh Salem Al-Qassimi, Assistant Professor of Design
at the American University of Sharjah. The conversation
has not been edited or translated, and includes hints of
the “Arabish” dialect that reflect its original context.
The initial meeting with Sheikh Salem Al-Qassimi evolved
into a working relationship, and his Design studio
Fikra was later involved as graphic design sponsor,
responsible for developing the identity of the exhibition
and this publication. Photos of wood were captured
and incorporated into the graphic, reflecting craft and
texture into the design; triangular arrows point out
various routes and directions. They complement the
circularity of the exhibition pieces, which are detailed
in greater length later in this publication.
To summarise, this multi-faceted project developed
through honest conversations across design disciplines,
and now presents a collective story spanning multiple
subjectivities. As a result, Once Upon DESIGN relays
an experience of overlapping histories and temporal
trajectories representing contemporary heritage.
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10
Traveling with
Sound through
the Middle East
Neil van der Linden
Neil van der Linden is programmer of music, theatre
and visual arts in and from the Middle-East and NorthAfrica in the region and in the Netherlands. He is the
founder and editor of the online Gulf Art Guide, and
writes about Middle-East music.
Once Upon DESIGN borrows from the Gulf region’s
musical and poetic heritage, but also uses ancient and
modern environmental sounds. Two installations in the
exhibition make use of familiar and less familiar sounds
from the region: Takki W Hakki by Think Tank Co. and
Palmscapes by COdESIGN. In connection with this, it
is useful to know how elsewhere in the Gulf and in the
wider Middle East and North-African region sounds
are used by artists in order to evoke ancient and
modern narratives.
Takki W Hakki by Think Tank Co. consists of a set of
swings in a circle, where the visitor takes a seat and
puts on a set of headphones, the swings referring
to camel saddles. The soundtrack played on the
headphones was made by Saudi music producer Majed
Al Essa. Al Essa is known in his home country for a
humorous paraphrase with accompanying clip on
a traditional Saudi Samry song, named ‘Samry King’.
The ‘Samry’ genre hails from various parts of SaudiArabia and Kuwait and is an upbeat, danceable kind of
music in order to provide the energy to stay up during
a traditional night party. The name is derived from the
word ‘Samar’, which refers to the act of staying up at
night chatting.
For this installation, Majed Al Essa also used a
Samry song. The original title of the song
“‫”ايســت األخبــار مــن صوبكـــم‬, “The news from your
end has despaired”, is a way to express one is missing
someone’s news and has almost given up. The chorus
in a similar vein declares “The news from your end
has despaired, family of the South”. It gradually
becomes clear that ‘family of the South’ actually refers
to a lover. So the song at first sounds like a group
singing joyfully asking about the people from the South
of Arabia for their news, missing them. But listening
more carefully to the lyrics it becomes clear that
the text was written as a ‘Ghazal’ (love poem), using
references to the environment as metaphors.
The poem was authored by Bukhoot Al Marri, a famous
Saudi Nabati poetess, who died in 1995. Nabati poetry
is the orally transferred vernacular poetry of a large
part of the Arabian Peninsula. The poem declares
that “our ship’s sails are facing this breeze” and then
immediately expresses a personal sadness and angst.
She announces she will never repent her passion for
“al mazyoon”, which translates into “the attractive one”,
because “when choosing from all possible routes” she
always chooses the best road. She exclaims that “there
is nothing better after so much thirst as having some
water” and that since their separation, a fire has
erupted in her soul. The song was sung by a group
of men in upbeat Samry style. Majed Al Essa used the
recording and added a jagged electronic riff, adorning
it with a snappy pop element.
The song loops multiple times, alternating with flashes
of environmental sounds, like that of the sea, birds
and other sounds that refer to the natural acoustic
landscape of the Arab Peninsula.
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12
This creates a tension between the products of human
nature with the sounds that have shaped the natural
acoustic environment from times immemorial.
Under the name Tse Tse Fly, managed by Simon Coates,
a series of events is held every month at the Ibis Hotel
in Al Barsha Dubai. They are ‘club nights dedicated to
sound art and experimental noise, featuring pieces
from local artists’. Ghada Da, Joao Menezes, Nour
Sokhon, Nidal Morra, Karim Sultan and Simon Coates
all have performed there.
In the other installation, Palmscapes, only environmental
sounds are used. It is an installation based on light by
Anna Cornaro and Valerio de Divitiis of COdESIGN.
It refers to the story of a pilgrim from North-Africa,
an elderly lady, who travelled to Mekka and Medina,
and who on the way back brought some kernels from
the Peninsula’s famed dates with her, collected from
the Prophet’s home in Medina. She used them as prayer
beads, and they later dropped on the soil and grew into
trees that produced the sweetest dates of North Africa.
The installation represents the events of the story by
an area with palm trees and sound such as the mumbles
of an elderly woman praying.
It is useful to understand these artists’ practice within
a larger picture of how sound is used in the immediate
region, particularly in response to the environment and
heritage. Elsewhere in the Gulf, artists make use of
acoustic heritage, from the past and, anticipating
on what will be heritage in the future, from the now.
Dubai resident Karim Sultan uses recorded sounds mixed
with electronically amplified Oud playing. The sounds
used can be humorous or commonplace, for instance
those of the metro of Dubai complete with the names of
the next stops. In another piece “Airflow/sketch
for a film” he features recordings of the sound of air
conditioners, ‘the most common Dubai sound’, so much
so, as he states, that ‘our minds filter it quickly after
arriving’. Kuwaiti artist Plus Aziz has collected samples
from YouTube videos and created a list of various
regional artists and their links. He worked with various
producers to recreate tracks from their own cultural
surroundings, using audio tracks that are available
online in local traditional genres like Samry, and Dazza
and the Iraqi and Kuwaiti Basta. Bahraini musicologist and
performer Hasan Hujairi combines recorded sounds with
composed music and recorded musical heritage in his
performances. He has worked with one the leading
pearl fisher ensembles of Bahrain, the Galali ensemble.
Carlos Guedes and Joao Menezes are staff members at the
electronic studio of New York University Abu Dhabi. One
of the projects at NYUAD consists of analysing and
rearranging original music of the region. Hujairi and Sultan
participated in Noise from the Middle-East, the electronic
music festival series at New York University Abu Dhabi.
Ghada Da, hailing originally from Saudi-Arabia and
based in Dubai, creates multi-disciplinary interactive
sculpture and video installations, regularly, like Karim
Sultan, making use of the U.A.E.’s public soundscape.
Dubai sound artists Nour Sokhon records sounds she
hears on walks around Dubai. Sharjah sound artist Nidal
Morra has a catalogue of recordings his family made
growing up in Sharjah - news broadcasts and various
media recordings. British visual and sound artist Simon
Coates had used sound recorded at an Emirati wedding,
the music from a band playing outside a restaurant in
Dubai plus noises from Al Aqqah in Fujeirah, abrahs
on Dubai Creek and so on.
13
As part of a residency at the Maraya Art Centre of
Sharjah, Kuwaiti singer and producer Zahed Sultan
cooperates with a group of traditional musicians/
instrumentalists from Sharjah in what he calls Live
‘Majlis’ Style jams, carried out in the Heart of Sharjah,
the historical core of the city. In a similar way,
Jordanian guitarist Kamal Musallam a few years ago
worked with traditional musicians from the U.A.E.,
which was recorded by the former Abu Dhabi Authority
for Culture and Heritage. The common denominator is
that they use such historical and contemporary sound
in order to reflect on the current dynamics of the
region, but also to form a perspective on the past.
There are similar practices elsewhere in the Middle East
and North African region. Egyptian performance artist
Hassan Khan, who perhaps tellingly created a sound
installation for the launching event of the Abu Dhabi
Guggenheim Museum, regularly remixes Egyptian Sufi
music as well as sounds from rituals or Egyptian daily
life in his performances. Egyptian visual artist Wael
Shawky has adapted Egyptian and Pakistani Sufi music, as
well as pearl-fisher music from Bahrain, with the help
of Bahraini musician and musicologist Hasan Hujairi, for
an episode in his Cabaret Crusades, which was exhibited
at Doha’s Mathaf. Syrian audio-visual artist and DJ Hello
Psychaleppo includes Egyptian and Syrian voices from
Sufi traditions, partly evoking a culture that due to the
situation in Syria may not survive. Hatim Belyaman aka
Officerfishdumplings from Morocco uses field video’s
he made of Moroccan folkloric heritage like Gnaoua,
Ahidous and Ahouache rituals, in elaborate audiovisual
remixes; some of these traditions are becoming rare,
so this documentation is valuable.
In Egypt, electronic music and sound experiments have
a history going back for decades. Egypt’s blooming
music and film industry favoured circumstances in which
new adventures were possible. Many consider Halim Al
Dabh, born 1921, a father of electronic music. For
his ‘Wire Recorder Piece’ or ‘The Expression of Zar’
he took a tape recorder to the streets to capture noise
and sounds from a “Zar” ceremony, an ancient AfroArab women ritual. He first presented his piece at an
art gallery event in 1944, predating French composer
Pierre Schaeffer’s epoch-making musique concrète by
four years. Intrigued by the possibilities of manipulating
noises, he believed the recordings could open up the
raw audio content to further investigate into “the inner
sound” contained within the ceremony, as he said. That
brings to mind the principle Majed Al Essa has been
applying now.
These numerous examples reflect the variety of practice
in the region: sound, musical, poetic or ‘concrete’
is used in imaginative ways to portray history and
contemporary circumstances.
14
Hiwar
Zahed Sultan
Sound and Visual Performance, 2016
Image Courtesy of Maraya Art Centre
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Al-Balad, The
Historic Core of
Jeddah: a Time
Travelogue
Historic, haunted, blessed… the old city of Jeddah can be hard
to reach for modern travelers… but well worth the effort
The Question is Heritage
UNESCO defines cultural heritage as “the legacy of physical artifacts and
intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past
generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future
generations.” Tangible (such as architecture) and intangible heritage (music,
poetry for instance) are intertwined, and together constitute the cultural
identity of a place. In terms of scale, a city is considered the largest heritage
artifact passed through generations. Moreover, pre-modern cities provide,
in addition to their heritage, excellent models of sustainability, resilience, and
liveability which remain key issues for the present and the future.
Atef Alshehri and
Mercedes Corbell
Atef Alshehri is an architect and a university lecturer.
His practice and research agenda is focused on the
urban history of cities within the context of the
Arabian Peninsula.
Mercedes Corbell is an architect, urban designer, and
LEED AP from California, based in the Middle East
since 2011. Her projects and explorations in historic and
heritage areas include Al Doho in Riyadh, Al Balad in
Jeddah, and the Al Fahidi district in Dubai.
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OVERVIEW
Like many modern cities, Jeddah’s historic city core, known locally as Al-Balad,
has become encased within the modern metropolis like a forgotten pearl within
a shell. With modernization, the population of Jeddah moved out of the old core,
which is left behind to face continuous decay and deterioration.
But like a pearl rediscovered, there is attention being paid to its historical
value, and right behind that, its real estate value. In 2014, Approximately 1/3
of the historic city was inscribed on the World Heritage List with UNESCO as
“Historic Jeddah, the Gate to Makkah.” Since 2014, record numbers of visitors
have attended the heritage festival hosted within Al-Balad in what seems to be
an expression of pent-up demand for what an old quarter has to offer
a modern city.
Today’s Traveller
The old city of Jeddah can be hard to reach for modern
travellers relying on car or bus travel and coming during
one of the many busy periods, but well worth the
effort… No longer accessing Jeddah solely by sea or by
one of the gates to the city, today’s traveller must make
the reverse migration from the new city back into the
centre of the shell. She or he might be a pilgrim staying
in the city en-route to or from pilgrimage to Makkah,
a visitor to Saudi Arabia, or a Jeddah resident paying
a visit or doing some shopping. Ramadan is a bustling
time when families come to shop for traditional items
that they can find nowhere else.
A stroll around Town
19
Coming to Al Balad is a treat; it’s a great example of
a place that “works.” It represents a significant part
of the local heritage, both tangible and intangible.
Jeddah’s Al-Balad also offers a delightful experience
that can remove us, however briefly, from the mall-ified,
brand-ified modern world of many cities and transport
us to a world with tiny stalls, strong scents, spices
spilling from burlap bags, soaps in sizes, shapes, and
colours found in no boutique or grocery store, to
name just a few.
SPACE:
THE PAST
LIVES TODAY
Invisible Blueprint
Traces -both faint and vivid- of the urban history of
the city form an invisible blueprint denoting the various
uses, functions, and forms of different parts of the city
structure. The distribution of various uses around
the old city did not happen at random. As a result, the
architecture of old Jeddah intensified and stratified
over the centuries to the form it has today in response
to the diversity of influences that shaped the city.
Looking more closely, one can identify matches between
what was, and what is. The city has evolved as a port,
market and a transit hub on the road to Makkah. In
fact, this is how its physical composition sustained itself
for centuries. Market streets branch out of the port to
traverse the city towards one of its gates. Along
these streets/ markets the city enlivens its colourful
memories until this day.
Roots and Context
The word “Balad” in Arabic means a “town or
settlement.” When the definite article “Al” is added
to form “Al-Balad”, the word acquires the new meaning
“The Town,” implying that there is only one town
referred to as “The Town.” Indeed, Jeddah was “The
Town” within its regional context. Historically, Jeddah
has been a city of the Red Sea (and beyond) as much as
it has been a city on the western edge of the Arabian
Peninsula and a gate to Makkah. The maritime history
of the city is reflected in the social and material culture
of old Jeddah until this day. The very essence of Jeddah
was and still is a sea town, with everything that the
sea could bring, whether trade, invasions, immigrations,
cultures, or arts, with some of these processes
continuing to this day.
Al Balad- for a time,
a walled city
Al Balad, the genesis of historic Jeddah, grew from a
pre-Islamic fishing settlement along the Red Sea shore,
to a fortified walled city in the early 1500’s during the
Mamluk reign. In 1947, the walls were removed to allow
for expansion of the city into its edges, as the force
of modern progress pushed outwards. The “gates”, or
walled gateways that stand today are re-creations and
reinterpretations of the original gates.
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A suggested sightseeing
itinerary of Al-Balad
Designed by Mohammed Hussein
Shukri, MHS Architectural
Consultants.
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ORIENTING:
WEST-NORTHEAST-SOUTH
If today you manage to approach from the Sea, you will be greeted with
surprise, as the edge of Al-Balad is no longer reached by an active marina. This
is a pity, as until recently, it was a thriving and active edge to the old city.
Now the marine activity is for the most part confined to the man-made port,
Jeddah Islamic Port. Nevertheless, this would be the most traditional path on
which to access Jeddah as an entrepot in the trade between the Mediterranean
and the Indian Ocean.
Resorting to historical accounts of Jeddah harbour adds colour to this lost
heritage. Ibn Jubayr, a 12th century Andalusian traveller, was astonished at
how difficult it was for his ship to navigate through the coral reefs and how
skilful the captain was in negotiating his way through these natural barriers.
Safi ibn Vali, a 16th century traveller, produced a travel guide for pilgrims, Anis
Al-Hujjaj (The Pilgrim’s Companion) illustrated with miniature paintings of the
pilgrimage path from Gujarat, India, to Jeddah. The last in the series depicts
the arrival to Jeddah, with a miniature painting showing the large ships that
would dock outside the reef area. Carsten Niebuhr, a member of the Danish
Arabia expedition which stopped in Jeddah, drew the first known western
map of Jeddah port.
West: Bab Al-Bunthistoric harbour area
At Bab Al-Bunt was the historic harbour area, and
was the first part of the city that sailors and seafaring
travellers entered. Historic records through many
periods indicate the existence of a customs house and
quarantine station in addition to gold and silver shops.
Until today one finds gold and currency exchange shops
within the original Al Bunt area.
Also close to the water’s edge was the fish market,
positioned within Souq Al Nada. Today there remains
a fish market at the north edge of this same Souq.
There is a stone gate at the beginning of Al Alwai Souq/
street which is meant to represent the original Bab
Al-Bunt. Al-Balad’s proximity to the waterfront is a
reminder of the economic activity that took place for
centuries in Jeddah.
North: Bab Jadid
(Madinah Gate)
Bab Jadid was the gate that opened towards Madinah,
the second holy city. The area behind Madinah gate, at
the sea side of the town, the Harat Al Sham- (Northern
neighbourhood), was a residential area inhabited by
the wealthy merchants. All the large houses were
built in this area, benefitting from the prevailing breeze
coming from the north. Today, this side of Al Balad is
a busy access point, with a large roundabout (Al Bai’ah/
Allegiance) leading vehicles around into the city at
“Gold Street.”
East: Bab Makkah
(Makkah Gate)
Makkah gate marks the point at which pilgrims and
traders would start their journey to Makkah. Most
travellers today take the road from Jeddah’s King
Abdul-Aziz Airport directly to Makkah, rendering this
original road to Makkah as somewhat vestigial; it is
now called “Old Makkah Road”.
On the inside of the gate was the “Bedouin Market”
where nomadic people, or Bedouin, exchanged their
goods (ghee, sheepskins, camel skins) for goods from
the city (rice, grains, honey). At the outside of the walls
could be found “camel parking” for the camel caravans
that took pilgrims and their belongings to Makkah.
This area is also where the Bedouins who led the
caravans would sleep at night, and tend to the
camels. To accommodate the camels and their loads,
the passages around the gate is relatively wider
than found in the rest of the city.
South: Bab Sharif
The area outside the city walls and the gate of Bab
Sharif was traditionally the area for people who could
not afford lodging within the city, and who slept outside
and fished from the sea.
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24
FINAL REMARKS
TIME:
TODAY AS
YESTERDAY
Walking around old Jeddah today, or reading travellers’
accounts, past and present, reinforces the notion
that this city urban formation has been shaped by two
major factors, the sea and proximity to Makkah in the
hinterland. Reading the city’s deep history and identity
should provide a context for any design intervention
at any scale. For architects, urban designers, designers,
writers and artists, as well as for those interested
in heritage, a place like Jeddah’s Al-Balad can provide
lessons, ideas, inspirations, motifs, and food
for thought. The legacy it represents is not only a
cherished memory but a good model that answers
some of today’s most pressing issues of sustainability,
liveability and resilience.
The beautiful 17th century miniature painting of Safi Ibn Vali depicts the
major components of the city at the time by illustrating the port,
the market arcades, the central old mosque and the cemeteries.
All of these remain today.
25
Markets and Trade
Tower Houses
The Souq, or market, in Jeddah consisted of an
interconnected series of shops that contained all
the needed functions including workshops, retail,
entertainment (coffeehouses) and religious (mosques).
The Souq Alawi is the long street stretching from the
port to the Makkah Gate, lined with shops and vendors
to this day. The description of the 19th century British
traveller, Isabel Burton, sounds like if it were written
today: “The bazaars literally swarm with the picturesque
and variegated mob, hailing from all lands between
Morocco and Java, Moscow and the Cape of Good
Hope; every race imaginable, with their different
costumes and languages.”
As a walled city since the early 1500’s, Jeddah naturally
did not have abundant space to expand horizontally,
which is the main trigger for the vertical development
of its iconic tower house typology. The houses served
a battery of functions from an extended family residence
to a lodge or a place to conduct business and trade.
The tower house typology manifested the architectural
heritage of the city with all its material and nonmaterial aspects. The intricate window Roshans, the
local building stones, the engraved wooden doors all
reflect artistic crafts, both home-grown and borrowed.
Lodging
The resilience of the tower house typology meant that
the city could respond quickly and swiftly to the influx
of pilgrims or visitors. Lodging was offered within the
tower houses during the high seasons, and some of
which were dedicated lodges, or “khans.” In addition,
coffeehouses could double as informal budget lodgings
for travellers who could sleep in their seat or lay their
mat out on a rooftop. The 13th century traveller
Ibn Al Mujawir described Jeddah by saying “Jeddah is
nothing but Khans!” in reference to Jeddah during the
pilgrimage season converting most of its houses into
lodges for rent.
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27
“Anis al-Hujjaj” by Safi ibn Vali,
Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, MSS 1025 folio 22b.
28
Once Upon
DESIGN:
New Routes for
Arabian Heritage
Curated by Noor Aldabbagh
The select installations produced by 1971 Design Space
are not a cry for preserving waning crafts or a nostalgic
nod to the past. They are not a rejection of recent
realities, or a denial of a different future. They do
not declare a dramatic break with a dead past. What
they do is invite basic human interaction within spaces
composed from familiar materials and common
elements that may be easily overlooked within their
regular contexts.
The interactivity brought forth by such installations is
subtle; it does not depend on artificial mediation of
technology or control buttons to get a programmed
special effect. Rather, the sort of self-reflexive
engagement invited by such structures reveals
experientially various concurrent streams of temporality
and layers of history within one space. It is only through
the act of listening, sitting, touching or moving that
both personal memories and shared heritage are
invoked. The heritage explored spans ancient through
29
modern, and histories overlap within each installation
and across the exhibition. Geographically, connections
are made to surrounding regions, with both real and
metaphorical routes explored. Universal themes are
rediscovered through stories with historical or mythical
links to the Arabian Peninsula.
Once Upon DESIGN makes apparent how behaviors
within the spaces we occupy have been framed through
design since the beginning of time. It puts forth a
heritage-inspired proposition for a contemporary
exhibition context, while simultaneously posing the
question: what role will design play in and for this
region moving forward?
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31
32
MAJLISNA
Majlisna is the result of collaboration between architect
Reem Hantoush and product designer Ayah Al Bitar.
This deconstructed Majlis encloses a number of seats
within a circular enclosure of columns. Linear patterns
in both the wooden columns and corduroy cushions
subtly reference traditional Sadu Bedouin textiles while
maintaining a minimalism in form and style. Linear
lighting evokes a “symbolic fire” in the central floor
area, while the surrounding circular structure brings
people to face each other with equal distance
between one another.
This enables an interaction to unfold where, unlike
typical Majlis settings, no implied hierarchical differences
exist in seating arrangements, based on centrality of
seating position or proximity to the exit. Navigation
between the inside and outside is possible from all sides
of the space, retaining openness to the surrounding
environment. The alteration in Majlis shape enhances
its role as a social space of coming together, and
evokes the primordial act of gathering around the
focal point of a campfire. The space is intended
as a capsule for creating memories and sharing in
conversation or storytelling.
Reem Hantoush is an Emirati architect with a BA in Architectural Engineering
from the University of Sharjah. After graduating in 2013, she interned for
the U.A.E. National Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Reem
has recently joined the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council as an Urban Design
Professional. She is a member of the Youth Advisory Board of the Salama
bint Hamdan Foundation.
Product and furniture designer Ayah Al Bitar graduated from Parsons The New
School for Design in New York City. In 2014 she founded Ayah Al Bitar Design,
now based between Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Al Bitar merges tradition and
modernity in her work, creating products that combine Eastern and
Western influences.
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34
35
2016—Wood, Textile, LED Lights
Dimensions Vary
36
CHASING LIGHT
Architect Talin Hazbar and designer Latifa Saeed
collaborated with a 40-year-old terracotta factory
in Sharjah to create an installation that makes a direct
reference to craft making in the region. The designers’
initial intention aimed towards distortion, deformation,
and disfiguration. Research and process based
exploration included days of recording, observation,
and engaging in lengthy conversations with the workers
at Alfakher factory. The project then took a different
direction, as rhythmic repetition at the factory and
the slower pace of work inspired the designers
to maintain the formation of the existing work, rather
than distorting it.
In Chasing Light, repetitiveness in shapes implies
continuity and growth, set against a backdrop of
the exhibition wall. The work therefore honors and
praises the pure and primitive form in which terracotta
takes shape through the handling of crafts people,
while simultaneously propelling it into a frame of
contemporary exhibition. The project involved working
with throwing wheels and firing on kiln; a technique
that evolved from the earliest pottery practice of
open pit firing, evidenced in the Arabian Peninsula
since the Iron Age.
37
Latifa Saeed is an Emirati artist and designer working
across the fields of fine art, graphic design, advertising,
branding and product design. She graduated from
Zayed University, Latifa College Campus with a BA in
Arts and Sciences in 2007. In her art practice and her
design commissions, Saeed employs an experimental
approach, both conceptually and with the materials and
techniques she uses.
Talin Hazbar’s work revolves around questioning
structures and materials. She is keen on experimenting
with materials to test their behaviours, challenge
their properties, and recall built structures. She has
a BA in architecture from the American University of
Sharjah, where her thesis focused on “solidifying sand”;
using it as a medium and discovering its potential in
constructing architecture. Her main focus is creating
structures from a material that is available in
abundant quantities.
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39
40
41
2016—Clay, LED Lights
4.0 x 5.0 meter
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NADD
The installation by LOCI architectural and design
studio lays out their own route of research and
experimentation towards reimagining the traditional
incense burner for the region today. In Arabic, Nadd is
the name of a plant with that emits a healing fragrance
when burned as incense or bukhoor. Bukhoor was
popular for sanctifying religious ceremonies since the
8th Century BCE when the incense route flourished
along the arid regions of Southern Arabia. Today, the
ubiquitous tradition of burning Bukhoor continues to
carry special significance in customs of hospitality within
a culture that places emphasis on scent.
The display highlights sketches and numerous failed
prototypes that played an important role in leading
LOCI to its current reinvented form of the vertical
incense burner. Wood and glass were chosen for their
heat properties and natural feel. Parametrical geometric
patterns on the top of the incense burner allow more
smoke to evaporate from the central area where it
is needed. Overall, the product’s minimal form maximises
functionality and is intended to fit into contemporary
style homes in the region.
LOCI is an architecture and design studio based in Dubai, which utilises a design team’s
global experience and knowledge to promote regional design relating to a project’s place.
At the heart of LOCI’s ethos is the belief that design is not an imported technology but
rather one that sprouts from its context. With that in mind, they approach each design
opportunity with deep focus on its geographic, climatic cultural, historical as well as its
socio-economic context.
43
44
2016—Cardboard, Wood, Glass, LCD Screen
Dimensions Vary
45
46
PALMSCAPES
An immersive lighting and sound installation by
COdESIGN features six vertical palm trunk structures
within a dark room. Stacked with wooden plates,
the length of each column alternates natural and
manufactured forms, with the carved wood at the top
projecting organic shaped shadows onto the ceiling.
The columns are embedded with speakers and
positioned within two triangular islands placed side
by side. This creates a soundscape that incorporates
echoes of walking in a palm farm, the distant call
to prayer and a woman’s mumbling of supplications. The
work embodies an iconic source of sustenance in the
Arabian Peninsula and implies several routes of travel
through its landscapes, from India to North Africa.
This installation is inspired by a story about an old lady
who visited the home of Aishah, the Prophet’s wife,
in Al Madina Al Munawwarah. There she spotted date
stones on the ground and gathered them promptly,
amazed at finding descendants of fruit eaten by the
Prophet himself. She strung them into prayer beads
that she took back home to North Africa. Filled with
piety from her recent journey and looking to learn
the ways of God, she was mocked by the learned
men in her city as a poor old lady not worthy of
their teaching. She continued to pray regularly outside
the mosque for years, until she passed away. As
she was being carried to her funeral, her prayer beads
dropped to the ground. No one bothered to pick the
valueless date stones. Seven years later, palm trees
grew in the same spot, sprouting the most delicious
dates in North Africa until today.
47
COdESIGN architectural office (Rome-Dubai) was
founded by Annarita Cornaro and Valerio de Divitiis with
a mission to provide unparalleled architecture, interior
and landscape design. With a consistent focus on
innovation and meticulous attention to detail, it aims
at creating a holistic experience of the senses where
by the spaces unfold in time. The design research
always looks for a correspondence between object and
concept, and projects combine space and material to
invite a strong empathy with the ambient environment.
48
2016—Palm Trunks, Organic Plates, Sand,
Sound, LED Lights
Dimensions Vary
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50
TAKKI W HAKKI
The interactive installation by Think Tank Co. brings
people together in a unified playful experience of music
and movement across time. The seats feature Sadu
print cushions and are shaped like camel saddles, evoking
ancient Bedouin transportation methods across the
Arabian Peninsula. They are repurposed as swing seats
in a circular formation and matched with headsets
that all utilise the same upbeat track.
For this swingset, Saudi director Majid Al Essa remixed
a well-known traditional Samry song performed by
a group of men with new Western beats. The choice of
collaborating with Al Essa is pertinent; since his Samry
remix Youtube videos went viral recently, he is known
for bringing people together in shared online experience.
The lyrics of the original Nabati love poem by Bukhoot
Al Marri recall the late Bedouin poetess’ arduous
personal journey towards an unattainable love. This
unfulfilled passion, a common theme in the “Ghazal”
genre of Bedouin Nabati poetry, is described in the
poem within the metaphorical context of a journey
towards the South of Arabia.
Think Tank Co. is a creative design agency based in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Working collaboratively, Think Tank
Co. creates and develops existing products, brands,
services, spaces and customer experiences. Its goal is
to create, refresh and sustain businesses, spaces and
experiences to realize their full potential. As a result,
they cultivate enthusiasm, increase sales, and enhance
leadership all while promoting constant innovation.
Neon lights connected at the centre of the top of the
swing setlight up in response to movement around the
installation. They visually reference the green lights on
ice cream trucks, a common sight since the 1980’s in
cities along the two main coasts of Saudi Arabia. Takki
W Hakki layers various routes, temporalities and elements
of nostalgia to create an overpowering sensory experience.
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53
2016—Steel, Textile,
Flourescent Lights, Sound
3.6 x 3.6 meter
54
PLACES WE
USED TO GO
Diana Hawatmeh’s graphic posters depict public
locations where her own family traditions took place in
the 1980s, using a subjective lens of her memories
while growing up in the U.A.E. Graphic elements from
the visual compositions on one side of the posters are
borrowed and used to construct a playful typography
on the back, displaying the names of the locations.
The posters challenge the rigid rules of Arabic type
through a childlike and inconsistent style. The modern
locations depicted in the posters include the prerenovation Abu Dhabi corniche, Al Musafah industrial
area in Abu Dhabi, and three Dubai weekend
destinations that were popular with expat families;
the British Club, Leisureland and Al Ghurair mall, the
first modern shopping mall in the U.A.E.
Almost all of these locations either no longer exist
or have changed drastically since the 1980’s. Written
individual accounts of Hawatmeh’s family traditions on
the backs of the posters reveal her personal memories
within these public spaces, from rollerblading by the
corniche and playing by the famous Volcano fountain,
to screen printing in her father’s factory. These brief
stories employ a colloquial dialect that represents
Hawatmeh’s unique Jordanian oral heritage, carried
over to the Gulf through her family.
Diana Hawatmeh is the co-founder of Abjad Design. She graduated from
the American University of Sharjah with a BSC in Visual Communication,
and worked for several years as a graphic designer in the fields of branding,
publishing and television in Dubai and the Netherlands. Diana has worked
for Brand Union, Dar Dubai Printing & Publishing, Arab Media Group
and Tarek Atrissi Design. She has independent graphic design work
published in “Arabesque - Graphic design from the Arab World and Persia” and
“Bold Visions - Modern & Contemporary Arab Art in the New Century.”
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56
57
2016—Paper, Metal
0.594 x 0.841 & 0.841 x 1.189 meter
58
COURTYARD CULTURE
Studio Mieke Meijer rescales and recontextualises the
architecturual structure of the traditional courtyard
in their outdoor interactive installation. Historically,
this structure was carried over from neighbouring
regions such as India and Iran through communities
of traders who settled in the Gulf over a century ago.
Distinct from the more common Areesh homes made
from palm tree fronds, courtyards offered a central
outdoor space where people could socialise while
retaining privacy from the outside world. This structure
was marked by flexibility in the uses of different
spaces within it; for example families would sleep on
the roofs during the summer.
Courtyard Culture stays true to the essence of sociability
and multifunctional flexibility. The lower level is
repurposed to cultivate plants, protected from this
region’s harsh sunlight with partial coverage. By
situating this work in the balcony of 1971 Design space
in Sharjah, it remains in relationship with the
surrounding landscape. Visitors are invited to sit and
take in a view of the old boats, recalling the commercial
and cultural exchanges that made and continue to make
the coastal cities of the Gulf the places they are today.
59
Studio Mieke Meijer is a collaboration between
Mieke Meijer and Roy Letterlé based in Eindhoven,
Netherlands. Their works start from constructionsand
architectonic shapes to form alternate spatial structures
where the interplay between space and user are central.
The studio works within the liminal field between architecture
and product design. This enables them to move freely,
regardless of architectural restrictions and outside the
boundaries of the traditional product.
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2016—Steel, Wood
6.6 x 7.5 meter
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62
Transcript of a
conversation
between the
curator and
Sheikh Salem
Al-Qassimi in
Arabish
Sheikh Salem Al-Qassimi, Assistant Professor at the American University of
Sharjah and Founder of Fikra Design Studio.
The following conversation has not been edited or translated in order to reflect
its original cultural context. The writing in English of the sounds of Arabic words
reflects a way of bilingual writing commonly used in the Gulf region; numbers
are used for Arabic sounding letters that don’t exist in the English language. This
interview is an example of one of 30 similar interviews conducted as part
of Banafsajeel’s “Reinventing Heritage” programme in the lead up to the Once
Upon DESIGN exhibition.
2=‫ ء‬
63
3=‫ ع‬
6=‫ ط‬7=‫ ح‬
“9 = ‫ق‬
The Espresso Lab, Dubai,
U.A.E.
October 3 2015, 4:00pm
Noor Aldabbagh: Can you talk about the design
environment here?
Salem Al-Qassimi: I think it’s growing. I wouldn’t
talk about design in general, cause graphic design
is my field so I would rather talk about it. I think
graphic design in general is the form of design
that is most available in the U.A.E. and the Gulf
in general cause it’s used in everything through
branding, and its everything printed; every
company needs to register its logo... you know
a lot of that.
I think the last ten years people started to
understand the value of it a little bit more.
A lot of design studios started popping up.
It was interesting in 2006 Fikra was the only
experimental design studio in the UAE. There
was like multimedia kind of advertising or design
studios, things like that. So I think now there
are more design studios including experimental,
and people that understand graphic design
specifically more.
The appreciation will probably take more time.
People do not give it the value that it deserves;
design has really changed the way that business
functions. I think that people think that design
is purely aesthetical, but its not. Design is about
the process, about the functionality of it, it’s a lot
of different things. For the aesthetic part the design of the look and feel of it - is just the
way design is able to communicate, but that’s
not a sense of what design is. And if we’re going
to talk about like fairs like Design Days Dubai,
I think design there is showcased as art
and not as design.
There is a huge conversation about, what is
design... and what is design in an exhibition
space? Because design is to solve a specific
problem, so for example, I design an identity
for a company. Once I put that identity on the
wall in an exhibition, it no longer serves that
purpose because it is no longer being created
to solve the problem of having an identity for a
client. Now we can view it as art. Anyway maybe I
went too deep.
N: No I don’t think you went deep. You brought up
this point before when we met in the Ramadan Iftar
in 1971 Design Space. You mentioned that when you
do produce work for an exhibition context, that you’re
interested to provide a solution for that particular
exhibition.
S: Its really interesting when you were describing
what you’re doing for Maraya, I was like Hamdillah
somebody gets it. You mentioned you’ll create
something for design and designers, something
like that, and it really felt very relevant.
N: Mmm. You know I was inspired by Tashkeel’s
programme as well when I saw their products that
they did in the booth in Design Days I thought,
this is thought provoking, interesting, well designed.
And the programme that they had set up was well
thought out. 6ab3an they brought a company men
barra o salfa… but we can do the same thing
ourselves if we understand what the challenges are.
S: I agree. So if we’re going to speak about
graphic design it in an educational or university
context, ne7na we need a lot of work because
we’re in an environment that requires bilingual
design, something that is contextual.
Unfortunately our educational curriculum does not
support that, it’s just English. Because most of
the people who are able to teach it are not Arabs.
So there’s a problem there.
This also applies to architecture. But from my
perspective at AUS, a lot of students who
graduated from AUS came back later and started
teaching there, which is really nice. You can
see there’s a change and even in the quality of
education, it’s changing, its becoming
better I think.
N: You’re quite positive in terms of terms of the
options available here.
S: I think it’s starting to happen but we’re wayed
wara. La2ana we’re not teaching, we’re borrowing
64
the curriculum, the American, the British, ya3ni
the Western we’re not teaching Arabic, 3arafty,
and I think we need to teach Arabic. Also if we’re
going to talk about type design, there isn’t a
place where you can actually do your Masters
in type design in Arabic in the Arab world. So
if you wanted to do your masters in type design
you’d have to travel abroad. I think we need
to have more people like Riem Hassan, who
teaches graphic design, and Faysal Tabbara,
who’s teaching architecture, who understand
this culture and understand the language and
things like that to teach.
And in terms of commercial I just want to say one
more thing in terms of the appreciation. A lot
of huge businesses, huge companies who are able
to afford and to invest in for example branding,
don’t. They think that going with a cheaper option
is better. They don’t necessarily understand that
we don’t just think about the way that a logo
looks like, you have to think about the way that
the business function and how we can improve
that business…
N: Through design…
S: Through cultural consultation and business
development in general, but all of that is part of
branding. But also branding is no longer about
designing a logo, its about the entire experience
that you can provide. It’s difficult when you have
huge organizations that come to you and are like,
ok we want you to design a logo, 3ady 3ady bas
7e6, ekteb el kelma o 5ala9. We try to explain to
them what branding is.
N: That’s really interesting. I feel your sentiment that
people don’t really understand the value of creativity
specifically, like, when it’s not tangible material like
a brochure that’s produced. They don’t appreciate
the value of the thought put into it, and therefore
the cost of that. What some companies do to get
around that is they shift prices around, like “oh we’re
doing your printing, it costs this much”, but really
what they’re doing is paying for the creativity and
experience that goes into it.
65
S: Yeah, yeah, yeah! With us, ne7na we charge,
now we started breaking it down for our clients,
pay by hour. But we involve them through the
entire process, everything from the beginning to
the end, from the brainstorming to the end, all
the research, they’re part of it, so they really see
the value of what comes out.
N: What’s your best experience of design in
the region?
S: I’m trying to think of an experience that really
made me feel that whoa this is amazing.
N: A couple of things that you did… like teaching?
S: I don’t want to talk about me.
N: Or it could be, what’s the biggest challenge
or hurdle?
S: I think explaining what design is, but you know
that’s a process and it will take time. And also now
I realized there are less guys doing design than
there were before. Lamma ana kent fel jam3a
there were guys doing design, a7eena, in my
class, my fourth year; last year I had one guy, this
year I have no guys.
N: Oh you’re saying there are a lot more women doing
it. That’s interesting.
S: Yes.
N: It’s socially acceptable. Cause as you said there’s a
misconception that it’s an aesthetic thing right…
S: Yes. (sees someone and gets up to say hello)
Sorry. That guy is Maryam my wife’s cousin.
N: Ok let’s little more specific, we are talking about
reinventing heritage.
S: Ok since we’re speaking about heritage, we
need to clarify that heritage is not a falcon, or the
Emirati flag, or the burgu3. Those elements are
so over used to represent cultural heritage. So first
of all, we need to clarify that it’s not just that.
N: (laughs) I totally get what you’re saying about
what it is not... How do you feel about traditional
heritage here in the UAE or here in the Gulf and what
do you view as heritage?
S: If we’re going to talk about heritage, so many
different aspects are intangible. So for example
a way of life, poetry, knowledge and heritage
traditions, those are all part of heritage. But I
think heritage is always in the making, it can’t
be that we’re reinventing heritage, through
the culture that we have. So I think we need
to identify that cultural heritage is not just
something in the past but something in the
present and in the future also.
N: Ok. But through your investigation of bilingual
typography you’ve been focused on dress, language,
and urban landscape. So that’s the kind of “heritage”
that you’re interested in.
S: Yes. I’m looking at the possibility of what our
language would look like because now you can
use technology and embed type and written
language into fonts and things like that. So what
happens now that you have bilingual culture,
you have bilingual lettering, things like that?
All those things are hybrid. What happens to
language, would you lose language? My work is really
commenting on that, whether its reinventing
heritage or not, I don’t know, but its commenting on it.
N: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ok, so why do you engage with
Gulf heritage the way you do?
S: For me it was kind of a chance, it wasn’t
planned … When I was going to do my Masters I
was looking at bilingual typography specifically,
as an element of graphic design that I was very
interested in. But what ended up happening is
that I started questioning, why? Why am I doing
this? Eventually it was being in Providence that
made me look at my own culture as an outsider,
I was not living in it. That’s where I looked into
Arabish, which is my investigation on what is
Emirati culture specifically, Khaleeji culture in general.
I wanted to question my own identity, who I was.
why? I was looking at what people were doing, the
things that they were talking about, the things
that they were posting. Me coming back here,
making sure that I didn’t get lost cause of all the
changes that are happening in the streets. You
know things like that... it made me question…
N: Mmhmm. Were you focused on Sharjah?
S: No, it was in general. The UAE in general
but also the Khaleej be shakl 3am. Bas also
um, another thing was, when I was there, it was
introducing the culture to people who did not
know it, so it wasn’t fair that I would go into
like showing them elements of my culture without, you
know, giving a precedent of what is the UAE.
N: Do you think it’s valuable to engage with artisans
and crafts? Why or why not?
S: Absolutely I think so, but I think that we
shouldn’t just limit it to traditional crafts. Take
advantage of what we have access to today in
terms of using technology or digital. I remember
reading a book about globalization by Arjun
Appadurai and he said something along the lines
of, that if a culture is not advancing then there’s
a problem. If its stagnant, there’s a problem
there, mob yalis yet3’ayar, and I think that’s
really interesting. I remember thinking before
that we’re losing our identity in the U.A.E., and I
remember that my stance then became, actually
we’re not losing our identity, we’re constantly
creating a new identity.
N: This was in RISD?
S: Yeah this was in RISD. Maybe people disagree
with me but that’s what I think. And I think that
if we lose the craft - and that’s why everything
is hybrid - if we lose the craft that we then with
technology something else might come up. I
don’t think that we should completely neglect
something, neither do I think that we should
completely stick to it. I think we should just let
it be, what it is, use it for whatever you can use
it for… but don’t be sooo kind of…
N: “Preserve the past!!” and all of this..
S: Yeah, exactly, exactly. I think its fine,
cause preserving the past can be in a museum
and that’s it.
N: What from your perspective is the biggest benefit
of engaging with heritage in the way you have in the
past or in the way that you might moving forward?
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S: I think development is what makes you unique.
Because no one shares your exact experiences
and your culture except for you. So for me I think
doing the project that I was doing, it could not
have been done anywhere else… because of the
kind of experiences that I have.
N: And the biggest challenge of engaging with
heritage in the way you have?
S: I think it’s only natural that people kind of look
at it in a way that’s very uh.. “oh you’re supporting
that we’re actually losing our identity” or things
like that. I’ve heard that.
N: But identity is constantly evolving…
S: I know I know!
N: So what does that even mean?
S: I’ve gotten that!
N: Where’s your falcon?
S: (laughs)
N: So, we’re reaching the end here. If you were going
to reinvent heritage in your own way, what are the
top 3 aspects or elements that you might work with?
Or that you’d like to work with?
S: Difficult question. It’s very difficult to kind
of reimagine cultural heritage, because we’re a
nomadic culture. Ne7na kenna nestabdel one
place for another. Fa a lot of the things we’re
talking about are temporary, like the tents are
temporary you set them up and then, you know
what I mean?
N: Yeah.
S: A lot of our heritage, our cultural heritage, are
ashya intangible, like poetry, 3adat o ta’’9aleed in
general, 3arafty. Fa I think this is what I’m… and
I think language is one of the aspects. And when
we’re looking at intangible things, these are not
necessarily things specific to our region; a lot of
them are borrowed from here and there.
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N: Absolutely.
S: Fa I don’t think that we can say that something
really belongs to us, 100 percent. We’re making it
ours by reinventing it or repurposing it.
N: So the last question is: how do you see your
involvement or lack of involvement in a design
programme on reinventing heritage? Ya3ni what
could you offer or contribute, or what could you get
out of it, or what would you want to avoid?
S: I would love to see how design specifically
is used as a tool of investigation. What I mean
by that is that instead of just being like “oh, I
want to put this on the wall... because it looks
pretty..”, I’d like to question what is a wall, why is
it a wall, why is it here on this wall, and how could
that benefit the discipline itself and the culture? If
that makes sense.
N: Well these conversations that we’re having
now, we’re doing about 30 interviews like this one
with yourself, and each person seems to have
their own subjective opinion on what is heritage
and why it matters. Designers in the region are
also very different, you know, some people much
more commercial. Like I’m meeting Mohammed
Kazem after you now.
interesting findings, things that were repeated a lot.
We’ll even share our method, like we’re doing a
2-hour workshop on human-centered design. What is
it, why did we use it? So that people can learn it
for themselves.
S: That’s amazing I love that. What’s really nice
about having a lot of people involved is that then
its very broad. And when you put them all in a
library, like you archive them in some way, then
it becomes a collective of expressions of what
people think about this. You know the book Wabi
Sabi? Wabi Sabi is a Japanese word to describe
the beauty of things from nature. But what’s
interesting is that the word itself is like the word
culture or heritage. You can’t actually describe
it in one word. They wrote the entire book of
different experiences to describe what it is.
Just like riding a bike. You know, you can’t teach
someone how to ride a bike by describing it
physically; they have to do it and practice it.
So it’s the same thing with understanding this,
3araftay? So you have a collection of essays, of
recordings, things like that. People can then
start listening to different things, learn different
things from it, and use it as a reference kind
of for future projects.
S: Mohammed Kazem the artist?
N: No not the artist. The guy who started
Tamashee… el na3lah.
S: No! You know he’s one of my best friends?
Where is he?
N: He’s coming he’s coming you’ll see him.
S: Mohammed Kazem is amazing, I love him.
N: So I found these conversations very enriching
and there’s a wealth of knowledge. And I’m thinking
how to share them now. Like the easiest thing I
could do is if someone’s open to it, is to transcribe
and put it on the Banafsajeel website. But I also
thought, well, we’ll do a workshop in Dubai Design
week in a few weeks and we’ll share some of our most
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