Expo 2020 Dubai’s Design and Crafts Programme launches MENASA – Emirati Design Platform. It will showcase more than 40 local and international designers, telling stories of the UAE through exclusive curated design collections.
Visitors of Expo 2020 will be provided the opportunity to explore and experience traditional Emirati crafts and traditions through a contemporary lens, with MENASA featuring seven exciting design collaborations between local and international artisans and designers under the title of Craft Stories, and Designer of the Week – a showcase of 24 designers and organizations from across the UAE, highlighting the breadth and vibrancy of the country’s contemporary design scene.
Craft Stories is commissioned and curated by MENASA. It is a dialogue between local and international designers and artisans who were invited to explore and represent Emirati crafts and culture in a new way. In every story, visitors can see the combination of the skills and rich heritage of Emirati artisans and contemporary creativity and innovation in techniques and materials. Every story shows many facets of the UAE, its landscape, people, traditions, values and identity.
A series of documentaries will be exhibited alongside the design collections. It will take visitors into the world of artisans and their crafts and traditions. The crafts include clay, safeefa (palm frond weaving), talli (embroidery), sadu (bedouin weaving), gargour making (wire-crafted fish traps), pearl diving, and coffee making.
8,000 Waves: The Pearl Diving Story is MENASA’s debut Craft Story and collaboration between Todomuta, a Spanish design studio, and Asateer, an Emirati design studio – founded by Mohammed Al Suwaidi, the grandson of a pearl diver – that specializes in the creation of handcrafted products from mother of pearl and raw materials.
Crafted in metal and inlaid with mother-of-pearl cut from oyster shells farmed locally in Ras Al Khaimah, the rhythmic, reflective forms of the collection evoke the 8,000-year history of pearl diving in the Emirates, the waves of the Arabian Gulf, the reflections of the sea, the sun and the light, and the shape of the boats that once carried the pearl divers for months at a time. The collection includes a feature wall sculpture and limited-edition candle holders and incense burners.
Designer of the Week will feature a unique snapshot of the thriving creative activity across the UAE by representing 24 UAE-based established and emerging designers, as well as the public and private organizations that support the local crafts and design community, whether through funding, promotion, providing exhibition space or safeguarding skills.
Highlights include new collections created for MENASA, and many have expanded their practice into a new design discipline, with products including homewares, fashion accessories and local crafts. Each work will be showcased within the MENASA space through a display of their curated work. These displays ranging, from traditional handcrafts to digital design, and from product design to illustration and fashion, will showcase the diversity of UAE-based designers’ disciplines, practices, materials and products.
All design pieces and collections will be exhibited and available for sale from MENASA’s design space. It will feature a dramatic 13-meter window display which is designed by Carmelo Zappulla and Rami Al Ali by merging 3D printing with local crafts. MENASA – Emirati Design Platform will be open daily for the duration of Expo 2020 Dubai at the ground level of the Rove Expo 2020 hotel, next to Al Wasl Plaza.
The curated selection of designers and crafts organizations at MENASA – Emirati Design Platform is drawn from 11 countries, across four continents. UAE designers and organizations include Al Ghadeer UAE Crafts, Alia Bin Omair, Ammar Kalo, Bil Arabi, Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council, Khalid Shafar, and Tashkeel. International designers and design brands include BD Barcelona Design (Spain), Estudio Campana (Brazil), Iwan Maktabi (Lebanon), Klove Studio (India) and Nicolas Jebran (Lebanon).