Tashkeel commissions emerging Emirati designers created bespoke pieces for Design Days Dubai

Dubai

To highlight its commitment in fostering local designers and talents in the UAE, Tashkeel, a contemporary art organisation based in Dubai, is supporting three young Emirati designers to each develop a range of products which will be exhibited at Design Days Dubai 2014.

Designers Latifa Saeed, Salem Al-Mansoori and Zeinab Alhashemi, worked independently on the development of their prototypes, with regular interaction and ongoing support from Tashkeel. The final products will be sold exclusively at Tashkeel.

“The initiative underscores Tashkeel’s commitment to nurturing local talent, and furthering the growth and development of the art community in the UAE. The impending projects for 2014 are part of long term initiative which highlights the skills of talented Emirati designers and brings them together with makers and artisans in the region, developing a range of designs based on an aesthetic that is intrinsically from and for the UAE,” said Anabelle de Gersigny, Tashkeel’s Strategy and Partnership Development Manager.

The programme draws on the spectrum of resources unique to the UAE as a crossroads of culture and trade - from woodwork and carpenters, designers and artisans, through to the myriad textiles and materials to be found.

Latifa Saeed is an Emirati artist and designer who works in a variety of media. She works 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. Saeed employs an experimental approach, both conceptually and with the materials and techniques she uses, in her art practice and her design commissions.

Project: Braided

Arabic title: معقص

Date: November 2013

Medium: Braided linen cushion tubes upholstered on a wooden frame.

Size: 65cm width x 45cm depth x 90cm height

Zeinab Alhashemi is a young visual artist born and based in Dubai, specializing in conceptual art and site-specific installations. Zeinab focuses on visual storytelling, transforming it through the lens of experimental media and the use of new materials. With a Bachelor of Arts from Zayed University in Dubai, majoring in Graphic Design, Zainab likes to tell a story visually and enjoys the challenge of experimenting with new materials and techniques with every new project. She uses contemporary techniques but often takes her subject matter from the cultural traditions of her native UAE. In previous projects she has created mixed media works with design elements from popular culture, commercially available Emirati products and traditional material. In her work, she is interested in reaching beyond the art audience to the wider public.

Tashkeel Design Latifa - Braided in progress

Project: Sa'nam

A maleable and multi-functional sand carpet, made up of geometric shapes filled with sand and stitched out of camel leather. The piece is intended as portable seating to be used outside, using the organic forms of the earth or desert sand to inform its shape and function. Equally ‘Sa’nam’ can be used in the home as a multi-functional piece of furniture, able to transform from seating to coffee table, rug to floor seating area.

Salem Al-Mansoori is an interdisciplinary designer, and a maker of generative, data-driven, narrative-based works, whether visual, functional, or computational. Through this process he produces work that is designed to cross disciplines, his projects varying from digital fabrication and data visualization to algorithm-based visual art installations. With a background in Computational Engineering and having graduated summa cum laude from Khalifa University, his passion lies in the construction of aesthetic systems that are capable of generating infinitely varying visual elements. Salem was one of the four chosen Emirati designers in the first Design Road Professional Dubai programme run collaboratively between Tashkeel, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and the Creative Dialogue Association in Barcelona.

Tashkeel Design Zeinab Alhashemi - Sa nam in progress

Project: Murmur

The synthesized objects are designed with a main function in mind: to attract spectators, inspire conversations, and create an ambiance of poignant warmth. The number of the pieces will be between 1 and 3, depending on the constraints of the process, and the sizes will vary from 15x15x15 to 40x40x40. The materials will be polymide and acrylic.