Four designers, Rand Abdul Jabbar, Saher Oliver Samman, Talin Hazbar, Latifa Saeed were selected to take part in our design programme in May 2014 by a committee of internationally established experts in the contemporary design field.
The programme runs in collaboration with PAL Labs, a UK based organization for lab-based processes designed to facilitate new, innovative work by designers and makers. The core structure of the programme consists of a series of two-day workshops led by established designers and curators over the course of nine months. Participants work in a combination of group, pair and individual work, drawing on experimental and collaborative practice, constructive critical feedback as well as investigating new business models.
Key members of the design community oversee the laboratories, providing guidance and expertise to the programme participants. These include founders of London-based Glithero; Fi Scott, founder of Make Works and Royal College of Art curator Amanda Game. Emirati designer Khalid Shafar, acts as ongoing mentor for the participants, sharing his expertise and knowledge of production processes and aesthetic trends in the UAE.
Selection committee: Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum in London; design historian, curator and gallerist Libby Sellers; Emirati designer Khalid Shafar; and artist Lateefa bint Maktoum, Founder and Director of Tashkeel.
As Tashkeel becomes a prominent figure within the UAE's cultural infrastructure – supporting at a grass roots level locally based artists and designers – this initiative endorses our on-going programme and facilitates a sustained cultural exchange. It also develops an appreciation both nationally and internationally for home-grown talents from the Emirates
Anabelle de Gersigny, Strategy and Partnership Development
Participants:
- Rand Abdul Jabbar
- Saher Oliver Samman
- Talin Hazbar
- Latifa Saeed
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Mentors
Roanne Dods, PALLabs
Roanne Dods is Artistic Director at PAL Labs, a pioneering 25 year old organization that develops new work/research and ideas through collaborative, interdisciplinary processes and is Co-Producer of Small Is Beautiful an annual international conference and research programme to support and inspire creative micro businesses. She has worked with many of the most outstanding cultural and creative organizations in the UK in career in the arts and is passionate about the role and place of art and culture in creating a positive 21st Century.
Fi Scott, DESIGN LAB LEADER
Fi Scott is a manufacturing geek, factory finder, designer and founder of Make Works; an independent design organisation that facilitates and celebrates local manufacturing. Fi is inspired by the value of making, local production and craftsmanship, fascinated by materials, machines and what people can do with access to them.
Glithero, DESIGN LAB LEADER
Glithero are British designer Tim Simpson and Dutch designer Sarah van Gameren, who met and studied at the Royal College of Art. From their studio in London they create product, furniture, and time-based installations that give birth to unique and wonderful products. The work is presented in a broad spectrum of media, but follows a consistent conceptual path; to capture and present the beauty in the moment things are made.
Amanda Game, DESIGN LAB LEADER
Amanda Game has enjoyed a thirty year career as an exhibition maker, curator and producer with a specialist interest in supporting contemporary makers: their thinking and their objects. A twenty year career in commercial practice, at the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh has been followed by establishing and running an independent studio to foster imaginative exhibition making in both public and private galleries working with clients which include Dovecot Tapestry Studios, Edinburgh; V & A Museum, London; Goldsmiths Centre, London; Jerwood Charitable Foundation and National Museums, Edinburgh. She is currently completing an MPhil Research project at the Royal College of Art London exploring exhibition making in cultures of craft.
Khalid Shafar, DESIGN PROGRAMME MENTOR
As a business graduate of the American University in Dubai, Khalid worked in marketing and communication for almost seven years. In 2005 Khalid completed a degree in Fine Arts in Interior Design and by the end of 2009 had decided to leave marketing and follow his passion for design. Khalid has studied and specialized in Furniture & Objects design, first at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, UK, then at the Centre for Fine Woodworking in Nelson, New Zealand. In 2011 Khalid opened his own studio in Dubai and in Nov 2012 Khalid inaugurated his first showcase space 'KASA'. Khalid's work had been showcased at many exhibitions and galleries in many cities like Tokyo, Berlin, Paris, and Milan.
Current Participants
Talin Hazbar
Talin Hazbar works across architecture, art and design. Hazbar’s work is deeply connected to the surrounding landscape and its intricate materiality. Her work accentuates the importance of working wit...
Saher Oliver Samman
Saher Oliver Samman was born in the UK in 1982. His English mother and Palestinian father lived in multicultural East London, a melting pot of heritages & traditions from around the globe. Being r...
Rand Abdul Jabbar
Rand Abdul Jabbar (b. Baghdad, 1990) engages in a multi-disciplinary approach to creative output, oscillating across the threshold between architecture, design, and the visual arts. Current research p...
Latifa Saeed
Latifa Saeed is an Emirati artist and designer who across the fields of fine art, graphic design, advertising, branding and product design. A graduate of Zayed University, she employs an experimental ...
Opening Hours
Tashkeel Alserkal
Gallery, Unit 26, FN Designs, Alserkal Avenue
Sun-Thu 10am – 7pm, Fri 9am–12pm
(closed Saturdays & public holidays).
Makerspace, Unit 89, Alserkal Avenue
Sat-Thu 10am – 7pm
(closed Fridays & public holidays).
Tashkeel Nad Al Sheba
Nad Al Sheba 1
Temporarily closed for renovation
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