Designers help understanding Thursday, 24 March 2011 03:13

DOHA: Speakers at the Tasmeem 2011 design conference yesterday proved how design and designers can weave history, culture, and understanding among societies through various concrete products born out of ingenuity and passion to create.

Dr Naif Al Mutawa, a Kuwaiti clinical psychologist and creator of THE 99, the first group of comic superheroes born of an Islamic archetype, took the audience on a journey into the making of the graphic comic book uniquely inspired by the Quran.

He said while writers have always built their stories on older design, nobody has used the Quran for their story, which is why he wanted to do something, but with no political or religious message. Al Mutawa took the audience through his process — the different steps in the journey — of building the hero and along the way gave examples of Steve Jobs, Superman, Spiderman and the Prophet (PBUH) as parallels.

Dr Al Mutawa is the Clinical Director of The Soor Center for Psychological Counselling and Assessment, Kuwait’s leading professional source of a broad range of psychological services.

He is the recipient of the Eliot-Pearson Award for Excellence in Children’s Media from Tufts University, the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations “Marketplace of Ideas” Award, and The Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Award presented at the 2009 World Economic Forum.

In tune with the theme of graphics, Mark Heggen, a game designer at Zynga New York and teacher of game design at University of Detroit Mercy, spoke about the potential social gaming had for communities and people to help them connect and communicate always. He said games have been around since 3500 BCE connecting people globally and locally and will continue to do so for thousands of years.

Among the interesting statistics Heggen revealed were that most social gamers averaged at age of 43 and were female, and also as of 2010 that there were 600 million social gamers in the world.

Linking design with the beauty of Arabic typography and calligraphy, Mirna Hamady and Elie Abou Jamra have created consumer products for everyday usage such as tables, chairs, bookcases, curtains, ashtrays, and vases in the form of Arabic letters.

Focusing on the aesthetics than the semantics of the Arabic letterform, Hamady said their main goal is to expose the beauty of Arabic typography and calligraphy to all generations through actual objects that they can use.

Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibri of Bokja Design established cultural connections and narratives through the use of fabrics from various countries and time in creating uniquely designed furniture which have reached many countries in the world.

“We try to capture a moment in time to remind people of its importance,” said Baroudi.

Hailed as the Shahrazad of the Middle East, the duo said every piece of furniture they make tell a story through the textile used which come from various places and time and the end-product which exhibits a unique character. In addition they also raise awareness of issues they feel strongly about such as social consciousness, gender equality and animal rights through their works.

“We never studied design, we just followed the rhythm of our hearts,” said Hibri. The Peninsula

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