All design reinterprets stories for modern day solutions and adaptations. Yereed voices the stories of humans who have survived and thrived in hostile environments by identifying a single natural element as a source of life, both literally and figuratively.

Yereed draws its inspiration from freshly cut palm mid-ribs, originally used for seating and tables and livestock (bird cages). The palm tree, an icon of culture and life here in the UAE, is also, to date, a source of living where dry palm mid-ribs were used to create walls and rooftops to provide shelter against the desert climate. The palm rib, called Yereed in Arabic, is viewed as a valuable building material that forms the typology of the Emirates. The Yereed bench cultivates and reclaims palm leaf branches that are shed seasonally in the UAE and turns this waste into a hardwood material structurally sound to create furniture. Reintroducing the historic valuable natural element into a modern resource, this bench houses centuries-old traditions, history, and culture.

The production challenge was to fabricate a design out of this material that is structurally sound. By peeling, cutting, scoring and puncturing, Lina has created a new material and in doing so, offering new design possibilities for arish.

The design focuses on the primary method of connection that involves puncturing equal spacing in the ribs and passing others through, either perpendicularly or at angles, to construct a framework for a product.