Tribune News Network
DOHA
Qatar Museums (QM) has announced that four designers from Qatar are taking part in Design Doha Exchange Qatar | Morocco: Crafting Design Futures, a year-long programme involving a visit to Morocco to work with local artists, designers and artisans to explore the intersections of contemporary craft practices and innovative design between the two nations. The programme, which serves both as a major pillar of the Qatar-Morocco 2024 Year of Culture and the inaugural Design Doha biennial, has also brought four Moroccan artists and designers to Qatar.
The Qatar-based participating designers are Reema Abu Hassan, Majdulin Nassrallah, Nada Elkharashi, and Abdulrahman Al Muftah, who bring expertise in ceramic traditions, contemporary forms, installation and spatial interventions, pigment and natural materials, and upcycling to engage with their Moroccan counterparts.
Morocco-based artists and designers Amine El Gotaibi, Sara Ouhaddou, Bouchra Boudoua, and Hamza Kadiri are exploring various disciplines while in Qatar such as textiles, wood craftsmanship, installation work with ceramic and glass, and pottery. Their work sustains collaborations with artisan communities and shared cultural narratives and contemporary practices which will continue to enrich the exchange and their residencies. In addition, all of the designers share a deep commitment to sustaining the languages, communities, narratives, traditions, typologies, and objects of craft within their respective contexts and through their own practices as artists and designers.
Crafting Design Futures aims to establish a network of artists and designers across Morocco with active relationships to Qatar and support designers of Qatar and artists and designers of Morocco who are developing new work and ways of working across design and craft.
Gwen Farrelly, curator of Crafting Design Futures, said, "By bringing these acclaimed designers, artists, and craftspeople from Qatar and Morocco together, Crafting Design Futures builds a greater understanding of both cultures and ensures that the skills and creative practices that have been instrumental to life in both countries for centuries will continue for generations to come.”
In January, featured Qatar-based designers spent one week in Morocco visiting the cities of Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech, and Fes to engage with the Moroccan artists and designers in their studios, spend time at a school to learn Moroccan traditional craft directly with artisans, and visit a diverse range of craft and design studios and cultural sites.
This month, Morocco-based artists and designers are in Qatar for a two-week research residency where they are working at Liwan Design Studios and Labs and Torba Farm.