< Previous40 RA D A R / T a le n t Screen Star Lebanese designer Yara Habib is giving traditional Emirati craft a modern spin I chose these materials to convey a link to tolerance and the multicultural fabric of the UAE,” says Lebanese- Canadian designer Yara Habib as we stand before her imposing new creation. Inspired by Emirati culture, Katta is a three-part room divider that was unveiled at Downtown Design as part of the Tanween Collection, an ongoing initiative from the arts body Tashkeel to nurture UAE-based creative talent. The large-yet-delicately- rendered screen combines over 400 elements in an array of materials including teak, oak, aluminium, Corian and faux suede. Habib worked alongside Tashkeel’s alumni and network of local craftspeople to produce a limited edition of 10 screens, and hopes to develop a more democratically priced version. Katta echoes the design language of the screens used in congressional Bedouin tents for private meetings, and off ers a contemporary take on al sadu, a weaving technique used by tribeswomen. “These tents are called Bayt Al-Sha’r, or ‘House of Hair’ in Arabic,” she explains, “which is a reference to the goat hair that was handwoven by the women of the community.” Habib imagined the traditional screens as witnesses to conversations that would impact Bedouin communities; thus, the piece’s wooden panels can be rotated to provide privacy or transparency. The fl exibility of the piece and its mix of materials is also intended to refl ect the UAE’s current d iversity, she explains: “It was my way of representing the country’s openness and its ability to protect its history while embracing the future.” tashkeel.org – RIMA AL S AMMARAE AD_40_Radar Tashkeel_11074032.indd 4009/12/2019 01:17:46 PMwww.rubelli.com - dubai@rubelli.com Fabrics Wallcoverings Furniture PH. GIONA TA XERRA _AD ME-30_DEC 2019_OBERON_.indd 1521/11/2019 11:31:51 AMCLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: The designer; the Y Lamp; Please Don’t Tell Mom mirrors; a contemporary apartment interior in Lebanon. The Storyteller Lebanese designer Marc Dibeh’s compelling designs have found a global audience T rends change faster and faster, so to keep a project as timeless as possible, I try to avoid following them,” says Beirut-based creative Marc Dibeh. “Each project dictates its own style.” After gaining a degree in architecture from Paris’ ENSAPVS in 2006, Dibeh returned to his home country to study product design at the Academie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts. There, he met Professor Marc Baroud, a multi-disciplinary designer who took Dibeh under his wing. “He became my boss right out of school and he encouraged me to take freelance projects on the side,” said Dibeh. “The fi rst project I got was to design the interior of Bokja’s furniture showroom. One thing led to another and I opened my own studio after Baroud pushed me.” Four years later, in 2013, Dibeh gained global recognition after he and Baroud exhibited a collaborative furniture range called Wires at Design Days Dubai and Art Basel. He’s been on a roll since, clocking up projects around the world (from the US to Corsica) and prizes (the 2016 Generation Orient Prize and Maison & Objet’s 2018 Rising Talents Award). Among his most recent projects are a colourful, loft-style apartment interior in Beirut; a coff ee shop in Washington, DC; and Dimanche 06, a collection of furniture pieces that hark back to the shapes and styles of the 1980s and 90s. And true to Dibeh’s words, each project is diff erent from the next. Right now he’s focusing on a series of apartments in Beirut, family residences in Lebanon’s mountains, offi ce interiors and a furniture line for 2020. What connects them is a narrative- based approach to design (Dibeh cites novelist Patrick Modiano and songwriter Thomas Fersen as creative infl uences). “I’ve always liked stories,” he says, “and being a good storyteller, or having the ability to create or describe a mood in a perfect way, is essential in design.” marcdibeh.com – RIMA AL S AMMARAE 42 RA D A R / N a m e t o K n o w P H O TO : MARW AN HAR M O U C H E AD_42_Radar_Nametoknow Mark_11063106.indd 4210/12/2019 04:38:10 PMTake it Outside Finding stylish outdoor furniture just got easier thanks to Turkish design studio Wangan’s debut collection. The Punto armchair and sofa shown here have frames fashioned from bent metal pipes, topped with plump cushions in robust all-weather fabrics. Available in a range of colour combinations, the seating is part of a larger range that includes lighting and modular tables, which are equally as pretty and practical. wangan.com.tr RA D A R / D e s ig n 43 AD_43_Radar_News Outdoor Furniture_10940508.indd 4309/12/2019 01:21:07 PM44 RA D A R / C ra ft PHOTOGR A PHY : A A SIY A J A GADE ESH AD_44-45_Radar Design Saudi Pavillion_11070643.indd 4409/12/2019 01:22:09 PMDream Weaver Saudi architect Shahad Alazzaz’s vibrant Dubai Design Week installation celebrated the ancient crafts of the kingdom’s Eastern Province E mpowering the beauty of one of Saudi’s most popular and authentic crafts,” is what Saudi architect Shahad Alazzaz says she hoped to achieve with her installation at this year’s Dubai Design Week – and she did just that. Chosen to create one of three pavilions for Abwab, the event’s annually remodelled showcase, she looked to local culture to create an immersive space inspired by the rich weaving history of the kingdom’s rural villages. The result was a vibrant mesh of colours and patterns that contrasted with the gleaming glass-and-steel buildings of Dubai Design District. “A palm tree is a dominant source of life in almost every Saudi house,” says Alazzaz, who founded Azaz Architects in Riyadh in 2016 after six years of working at a leading architecture fi rm in Spain. “Palm frond weaving is still an industry in Saudi Arabia. In the old days, women used to weave as part of their daily chores, producing essential goods for their families such as food baskets, saddle bags and fl oor coverings.” Partnering with the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture (Ithra), a cultural hub and supporter of the arts in the kingdom, Alazzaz began the project by working with craftspeople across the Eastern Province. The most interesting aspect of the collaboration, she explains, was the willingness of entire families to participate, with women passing the Khos weaving technique on to their grandchildren. “There is great power in collaboration, especially when it’s between diff erent generations,” she adds. “I learned a lot from the older artisans. But there were a few challenges along the road. Changing the idea of scale in the mindset of people who are used to creating small objects like baskets and bags was not easy.” Communication was also an obstacle. As most of the craftspeople live in remote villages with limited network coverage, Alazzaz made multiple trips to check on the workfl ow of the weaving. The fi nished pavilion, called Sa’af, mixed diff erent styles, colours and textures in an eff ort to maximise interaction with the inner and outer skin. “The architecture of the pavilion was designed to create a platform where the boundaries between architecture and art dissolves,” Azzaz says. “I wanted it to evoke a conversation between multiple disciplines. Architecture should be a source to celebrate diff erent civilisations and social connections.” azazarchitects.com – JUMANA ABDEL -RAZZA Q AD_44-45_Radar Design Saudi Pavillion_11070643.indd 4509/12/2019 01:22:20 PM46 RA D A R / In n o v a to rs BRANCHING OUT The Dutch designers behind Studio Drift have brought their hypnotising fusion of art and technology to Abu Dhabi with a soaring kinetic sculpture Tree of Ténéré, an interactive light work controlled by visitors’ movements and brain activity. AD_46-48_Radar_Studio Drift_10997850.indd 4609/12/2019 01:25:08 PMI n the lobby of the Abu Dhabi Edition hangs a spatial kinetic installation called In 20 Steps. It’s an impressive sight. 15 metres long and four metres wide, it consists of 20 pairs of delicate glass ‘wings’ courtesy of Czech company Lasvit and connected by metal springs. When in motion, they represent the various stages of fl ight. In 20 Steps is the work of Amsterdam- based Studio Drift, an art studio that itself is in metaphorical fl ight. Established by Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta in 2006, it has been consistently praised for its site-spe- cifi c installations and for its hypnotising fusion of art and technology. “We met Ralph on a Brooklyn rooftop and began talking about possible collaborations,” recalls Ian Schrager, the American entrepre- neur and hotelier who partnered with Marriott International to launch Edition Hotels in 2007. “They had a piece installed at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in New York which was beautiful. At the same time, we were beginning to work on the Abu Dhabi Edition and thought it would be perfect to collaborate on a large-scale piece for the lob- by – a space with enormous scale that needed something to make it feel intimate.” The end result is what Nauta describes as a ‘tribute to evolution and the ultimate human desire to fl y’. Co-produced by the Czech glass specialist Lasvit, it represents ‘all the diff er- ent steps of fl ying in an abstract way’. “The work refl ects the natural pulsation in movement, light and life,” says Nauta. “A clus- ter of glass elements is triggered to move at their natural speed. Whether they are waves, fl ying birds, or running men, all movements on Earth can be seen as the carrier of innova- tion – a desire for all species to connect.” “We are interested in creating spaces that give an experience, that make you feel,” adds Schrager, who is perhaps best known as the co-founder of legendary New York nightclub Studio 54. “The kinetic quality of this piece animates the space and changes the physical surroundings when in movement.” Thanks to such impressive work, Studio Drift is riding a wave of critical and commer- cial success. It has used drones to mimic the natural fl ight patterns of starlings, has forged kinetic sculptures of mechanical fl owers, and connected three-dimensional bronze electri- cal circuits to real light-emitting dandelions. The intention is to explore the relationship between humankind, nature and technology. In 20 Steps Syntopia suspended about Iris Van Herpen’s AW18 Paris catwalk. Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta pictured in 2018 with a piece from the Coded Nature exhibition in Amsterdam. The soaring kinetic sculpture at Edition Abu Dhabi AD_46-48_Radar_Studio Drift_10997850.indd 4709/12/2019 01:25:18 PM48 RA D A R / In n o v a to rs PH OTOG R A PHY : J A M E S M C D O NALD It’s an artistic mission that is being carried out on an increasingly memorable scale, with the most recent performance of Franchise Freedom – the studio’s live aerial installation of 300 luminous drones – taking place at the Kennedy Space Center in July. “We aim to re-establish the connection between humans and nature,” says Nauta. “Often natural phenomena are our starting point, from which we research evolution. We bring the artworks to life through technology without compromising on the execution. There isn’t a name for what we do but [our works] are often categorised as tech art.” In the past, the studio has sought to re-es- tablish human connection with nature through installations such as Flylight, which imitates the behaviour of a fl ock of birds, and the mesmerising Tree of Ténéré. The latter, created in partnership with Zachary Smith and Mark Slee and erected at the Burning Man festival in Nevada, was a large-scale LED artwork that not only responded to visitors’ movements, but to their heartbeats and brain activity, too. It is, in essence, tech art for a tech world. One where data, algorithms, electronics and programming are as important as visual beauty, performance and design. Where col- laborations with scientists, programmers and engineers are as important to a project’s development as the creative thinking behind it. “One goal is to re-establish a link between new technologies as a way of expression with- in the contemporary art world,” adds Nauta. Such complexity presents challenges; the mechanics and electronics of In 20 Steps, for example, need to safely hover above hotel guests’ heads for years without falling. “We had to do a lot of research on safety and dura- bility,” says Nauta. “After the installation of the piece we took time to programme and light up the structure in a way that feels natu- ral. This is always the hardest and most important part of the job.” In many ways Nauta and Gordijn naturally complement each other. The former’s love of science fi ction and technology has found a kindred spirit in Gordijn, whose fascination with nature provides an ethereal element to their work. “The world is one big exhibition, if you take the time to look. People often don’t take the time to connect with nature and their envi- ronment,” explains Gordijn. “Our artworks often give people an un-rushed moment in our hectic world. We want to recreate the same sensation you can get from walking through a forest or going to the beach.” With success has come constraints on time. In an ideal world the duo would spend all of their waking hours creating, but that is increasingly diffi cult given the scope of their work. Nevertheless, Nauta and Gordijn’s aspi- rations remain ambitious. “We want to do more architectural works and larger installations in public spaces,” says Nauta. “We can now work on projects that were too ambitious for us when we founded the studio and invest resources, which is very exciting. We’ve raised the stakes and we want to reach and connect with as many people as possible.” studiodrift.com – IAIN AKERMAN “There isn’t a name for what we do, but it’s often characterised as tech-art” ABOVE: Dandelight, 2017. LEFT: In 20 Steps Glasstress Venetie, Venice Biennale 2015. BELOW: Franchise Freedom, Burning Man Festival, 2018 and Tree of Ténéré, Burning Man Festival, 2017. 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