< Previous60 RA D A R / A rt RISE & SHINE AD cover artist Sara Shakeel’s passion for crystals has set her on an unexpected, glittering career path AD_60-63_Radar_Art Sara Shakeel_11081167.indd 6009/12/2019 01:50:24 PM“ HUGE BUILDINGS ARE MESMERISING TO LOOK AT. JUST IMAGINE ONE OF THEM COVERED IN CRYSTALS ” Sara Shakeel’s re-imagining of the Taj Mahal. OPPOSITE PAGE: Growth Girl. AD_60-63_Radar_Art Sara Shakeel_11081167.indd 6109/12/2019 01:50:28 PM62 B ased in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sara Shakeel’s work combines photography, real crystals and digital editing to eye-catching eff ect. In just three years, she has gone from disillusioned dentist- ry student to globe-trotting art- ist with a huge Instagram following (893K and counting) and a product range in the pipeline. Her love of reimagining historic buildings with a shimmering veneer made her the perfect choice to collaborate with on the cover for this issue to celebrate the resto- ration of Diriyah in Saudi Arabia. Here, she explains the inspiration behind her work. How did you move from dentistry to art? My past was pretty ordinary, though I always imagined my world to be extraordinary, when I was younger and didn’t know how to express myself through art. Long story short: I failed my fi nal year of dental school 16 times, and ended up creating crystal artworks for the world, a talent I never knew I had. A lot of your work celebrates the human form. What messages are you hoping to convey? Fom working on glitter stretch marks to highlighting vitiligo as crystals, working with human bodies is the closest I can get to my own emotions. Creating art- work is a form of meditation. The whole pro- cess is so therapeutic that I really don’t need a reason to create – it’s for self-healing. What drew you to crystals? They have been a fascination of mine for a very long time. The unpredictable colour changing and how light refraction shifts with every move- ment is what captures my attention. It can be such a beautiful feeling. I started creating these illusions by making over ordinary objects and, little did I know, the world was waiting for it. What is your creative process? When I started in 2016, it was a digital attempt, and a mere accident. I remember when I fi rst creat- ed my crystal lipsticks they literally broke the internet. Everyone wanted one. International fashion magazines got in touch to ask for the details of how to buy them, and I had to let them know that they were nothing more than an illusion. That changed the course of my career. I started working on more crystal objects, which has landed me lots of work. What inspired your work with buildings? Huge buildings are mesmerising to look at – now just imagine one of them covered in crys- RA D A R / A rt AD_60-63_Radar_Art Sara Shakeel_11081167.indd 6209/12/2019 01:50:55 PMABOVE: Waterfl ow. LEFT: The Insta-artist’s real makeover of breakfast food. OPPOSITE PAGE: A crystal- encrusted Emirates jet. tals. From space it would twinkle like a spar- kling star. That thought lead me to create imaginary crystal buildings. And, maybe someday, real ones, too. You sometimes recreate images of celeb- rities – have you ever had one reach out to you in reaction to your artwork? I have created artworks of celebrities because I gen- uinely love and respect them. They have impacted me and my work one way or anoth- er, so I pay tribute through an artwork. I have been contacted by many, and in fact, one of my artworks was loved by Grammy winning artist Chance the Rapper, who wanted to create an album cover inspired by my work. He fl ew me to the US and I created his album cover along with creative direction of his pop-up store in collaboration with Swarovski. Your Emirates collaboration went viral. How did that come about? God has been very kind. I was fl ying to Milan because I was nominated for an award (which I won) and my excitement level was through the roof. Before boarding, I saw my plane and decided to take a picture and quickly cover it up in crystals. I posted the picture before fl ying and went to sleep. When I woke up I saw Emirates’ offi cial page had contacted me and wanted to share the artwork. It literally blew up the Internet. Later on, I collaborated with them for another project, which had a great response as well. What does the AD cover collaboration mean to you? I have long been a huge fan of Architectural Digest, and it’s such an honour to work with the team. I am truly grateful for the love and letting my artwork grace the cov- er of the magazine. You have a fashion range coming up. Can you tell us more about it? I am currently heading to London for my merchandise col- laboration with Browns Fashion, the legend- ary boutique in Mayfair. Along with mer- chandise, it will showcase the sculpture I created for NOW gallery in London by cov- ering a whole dinner table, including the food, with two million crystals. What do you think your embellishments add to their original image? It depends on what I am crystallising, but usually it high- lights an emotion, which sometimes you don’t take seriously. It takes them from ordi- nary to extraordinary. Your dream project? To create a life size crystal plane, or a subway. Or maybe to cover a real building with crystals. You just never know. @sarashakeel AD_60-63_Radar_Art Sara Shakeel_11081167.indd 6309/12/2019 01:51:04 PM I n 1927, Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) was invited to exhibit at the renowned Salon d’Automne show in Paris. It was a confi dence boost for the designer, then a recent graduate of the École de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs. Hoping to advance further, she arranged to meet Le Corbusier, the pre-eminent architect of the day, at his studio. His subsequent dismissal of her work, after only a cursory perusal of her drawings, remains infamous in the annals of design-related misogyny. “We don’t embroider cushions here,” he scoff ed. But the condescension she endured could not dim the dazzle of Perriand’s talent. When he later saw her Bar Sous Le Toit installation, a recreation of her own apartment with chrome furniture, he deemed it a vision of the machine age that chimed with his own. After that, Le Corbusier wasted no time in hiring Perriand – nor in taking credit for her work. For decades, the sinuous chaise longue she designed for his studio in 1928 was regarded as his achievement, and stamped with the letters “LC”. Thankfully, her role is now acknowledged, and as a major new retrospective opens at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, Perriand’s Modernist icon Charlotte Perriand blazed a trail through the 20th century design world, as a new retrospective evocatively reveals TIPPING POINT genius is clear for all to see. It’s the fi rst time that the gallery has dedicated its entire space to one designer. Born in humble circumstances (her father was a tailor and her mother a seamstress), Perriand’s route to success was unconventional. “The fact that she didn’t train alongside the architectural students of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts is essential to understanding her work,” says exhibition curator Sébastian Cherruet. “She did not take on board the art of composing massive, symmetrical facades. Her architecture operated through an interpenetration of living and exterior space rather than a monumental approach.” Unconstrained by formal theories, Perriand’s vision roamed freely between architecture, interiors, art, engineering and craft. “I don’t defi ne myself,” she said. “That would be a limitation.” Thus it was that she was equally at home designing an “ideal apartment” with modernist steel furniture, paintings by Fernand Léger and rustic wooden pieces (Maison du jeune homme, 1936), or an aluminium mountaineer’s shelter on stilts inspired by fairground carousels (Refuge tonneau, 1938). Her curious mind anticipated the concerns that ABOVE: A 1927 dining room design LEFT: the B302 Swivel armchair, also from 1927. Perriand reclining in the B306 chaise she designed with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in 1929. AD_64-65_Radar_Design Hero Charlotte_11031673.indd 6409/12/2019 01:52:45 PM65 RA D A R / D e s ig n H e ro today’s designers view as sovereign: ecological awareness, expressed in her love of organic materials and indoor-outdoor buildings; an instinct for holistic displays that brought together design, art and crafts; and a love of multi-purpose, loft-style spaces (Perriand was one of the fi rst to design an open-plan kitchen/living room, in Le Corbusier’s Unité d’habitation in Marseille, 1950). By 1937, Perriand had moved on from Le Corbusier’s studio and its somewhat rigid version of modernism. She remade her chaise longue in bamboo and experimented with exuberant colour (in 1952, she collaborated with artist Sonia Delaunay on polychromatic shelving for La Maison de la Tunisie in Paris). A turning point came when, in 1940, she travelled to Japan. She would spend six years in the Far East, absorbing many of its ideas about natural materials and adaptable interiors. Her fi rst exhibition in Tokyo, in 1941, featured multi- functional designs like folding chairs and movable shelves alongside children’s drawings and craft textiles. More and more, Perriand incorporated artworks by the likes of Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso in her designs, and as she moved into the postwar period, art became increasingly important to her as a symbol of spiritual regeneration. At the same time, her own furniture became more art-like. Some of Perriand’s greatest achievements came in later life, including the Les Arcs ski resort in Savoie, on which she lavished 30 years’ work. A ziggurat-style building that hugs the mountainside, its apartments are simple and functional, so the focus is on the landscape (Perriand was a keen mountaineer). In 1993, her 90th year, she designed an exquisite Japanese tea house with parasol-style roof for the UNESCO garden in Paris. Along with the Refuge Tonneau and her own apartment-studio, this has been reconstructed for the new exhibition. Visitors are invited to relax on the furniture in the welcoming spirit their maker intended. Perriand once exhorted her contemporaries to “live your century and anticipate”. It’s uncanny how relevant she remains in our own. Charlotte Perriand: Inventing a New World, until 24 February, 2020; fondationlouisvuitton.fr – AMY BRADFORD LEFT: Arête de Poisson, 1933. BELOW LEFT: A 1977 sideboard. BELOW RIGHT: A lamp designed with Isamu Noguchi, 1963. ABOVE: The Arc 1600 ski resort in Savoie. LEFT: A 1955 reception room. BELOW: Ball bearing necklace, 1927. “The misogyny she endured could not dim the dazzle of Perriand’s talent” P H O TOS : ARC H IVE S C HAR LO T T E PE R R IAN D , F .L .C ., AD A G P, VITR A D E S IG N M U S E U M , MAD P A R IS / J E AN TH O L AN C E . AD_64-65_Radar_Design Hero Charlotte_11031673.indd 6509/12/2019 01:53:03 PM66 RA D A R / A g e n d a Must-see exhibitions in the Middle East and beyond THE FANTASTIC FOUR RICH LEGACY The Louvre Abu Dhabi explores how the idea of luxury has evolved over 10,000 years It’s not every day that the jewellery of legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum is available for viewing, and yet, during 10,000 Years of Luxury, the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s latest blockbuster exhibition, the diva’s antique pearl necklace forms part of a landmark exposition on the history of luxury. It is joined by the Abu Dhabi Pearl – the oldest pearl in the world dating back to 5,800 to 5,600 BC – as well as nearly 350 other extraordinary objects. In a thought-provokingly broad sweep, the exhibition encompasses items spanning millenia, from extravagant offerings to the divine, to gilded furniture fit for royalty and the iconic couture of fashion houses such as Christian Dior, Chanel and Ellie Saab. Presented alongside the exhibition, is the must-see olfactory art installation, USO – The Perfumed Cloud (pictured, above). Created by Cartier’s in-house perfumer Mathilde Laurent, it immerses visitors in a fug of scent. 10,000 Years of Luxury runs until 18 February, 2020. louvreabudhabi.ae ABU D HABI AD_66-67_RADAR_Agenda_11078191.indd 6609/12/2019 01:54:17 PMFABRIC OF SOCIETY The rise of textile art in the Sixties is spotlighted in a vibrant celebration of craft Textile artworks by internationally renowned artists including Etel Adnan, Pablo Picasso and René Perrot are under the spotlight this season in the exhibition Tales of Thread at Custot Gallery Dubai. The 28 pieces on display refl ect diff erent expressions of modern tapestry making in the West and mark the rise of textile art as a movement during the mid-20th century. Curated by Laurence Custot and Isaure Bouriez, works by the leading pioneers of the 20th Century renaissance in tapestries have been selected to illustrate the connections between European modernism and medieval craftsmanship. Sonia Delaunay’s bold, undulating work (pictured, left) is a standout. Tales of Thread runs until 5 March, 2020. custotgallerydubai.ae GLOBAL GATHERING Kurdish artists come together for a joint exhibition in the American capital DU B A I AL – ULA WASHINGTON DC A powerful exhibition in Washington DC titled Speaking Across Mountains will explore the global Kurdish experience through the artwork of 10 contemporary artists: Sherko Abbas, Serwan Baran, Hayv Kahraman, Kani Kamil, and Walid Siti of Iraq; Savas Boyraz, Zehra Dogen and Şener Özmen of Turkey; and Khadija Baker and Bahram Hajou of Syria. Iranian Kurds will be represented in a series of fi lms accompanying the exhibition. Speaking Across Mountains will also host panel discussions, off ering audiences the opportunity to engage in conversation with the artists. Curated by Heba Elkayal, an independent curator and writer based between New York and Cairo, the exhibition will be held at MEI Art Gallery – the Middle East Institute's new non-commercial art space. From 6 December to 20 February, 2020. mei.edu/art-gallery WINTER WONDERLAND A cultural and culinary festival lights up historic Al-Ula Back for a second time, Saudi’s Winter at Tantora festival in Al-Ula promises a diverse range of activities that celebrate local and international culture, from tours of historic sites to performances by the likes of Tuscan tenor Andrea Bocelli and Egyptian pianist Omar Khairat. The programme will also feature hot air balloon rides, art exhibitions, food pop-ups and a craft market. Taking place every weekend from 19 December to 7 March, 2020, Winter at Tantora will arrange its activities across Al-Ula, with the musical performances taking place at the state-of-the-art Maraya Concert Hall. Arabic for mirror, Maraya was designed by Italian firm Gio Forma Studio Associato and is covered entirely by panels that reflect shifting views of the sand and mountain terrain. It’s a work of art itself. experiencealula.com AD_66-67_RADAR_Agenda_11078191.indd 6709/12/2019 01:54:39 PM68 An exuberant new tome offers colourful inspiration for design lovers Rainbow Warrior RA D A R / B o o k s AD_68-69_RADAR_Books_11071292.indd 6809/12/2019 01:57:15 PMC arlos Mota – former international style editor of AD – is allergic to bland. The globetrotting interior designer and creative consultant documents his colourful world via his Instagram account, Casamota, which features everything from glamorous homes to exotic birds and travel photography. Now, fans can experience his style in a more luxurious printed format. Beige Is Not a Color: The Full-Spectrum World of Carlos Mota (Vendome Press, $75) brings together 280 of his favourite images, taking in everything from lavishly decorated rooms to couture fabric swatches, artworks and architectural details. All have one thing in common: a thrilling use of colour, whether that means dazzling contrasts or carefully calibrated tonal harmonies. Mostly, the images are allowed to speak for themselves, with only an index at the end to identify each one (the homes of interior decorator Alberto Pinto, fashion designer Tory Burch and Mota himself are prominently featured). In addition, quotes from fellow colour lovers are peppered throughout (think Giambattista Valli and Calvin Klein) adding a whimsical spin. The more you leaf through the pages, the more you’ll notice subtle rhythms emerging, with tones of red gradually shading into pink, followed by canary yellows and vivid greens. The eff ect is at once stimulating and soothing, and something you’ll want to return to time and again. Oh, and beige, it turns out, is not entirely banned: the keen-eyed will spot a few buff tones here and there, but always as a foil for something more carnivalesque. – AMY BRADFORDP H O T O S : EF R A IM E V ID O R AD_68-69_RADAR_Books_11071292.indd 6909/12/2019 01:57:42 PMNext >