This panel discussion explores how designers and design professionals depict the many cultural contexts [...]

24 October | 6 - 7pm
The Atrium, Building 4, Dubai Design District (d3)

Beyond the policies and strategies, the management and entrepreneurship, the social impact and economy, designers and design professionals in this panel discuss the productions and projects that represent their methods of thinking, experimenting and advocating Culture through Design. They depict the many cultural contexts of design through their practices and programmes.

Moderated by Ayeh Naraghi

The Panel

Rawan Kashkoush

Rawan is a designer dedicated to discovering unique access to the creative arena. After generating ‘urban stories’; a toolkit advocating the stewardship of the citizen to create useful public space, she joined the inaugural Dubai Design Week to direct ‘Abwab’; a platform to empower design from the MENASA and is currently Head of Programming for the event.
To better navigate cultural variation Rawan has lectured in Intercultural Competence for the ISA and regularly uses her skills in the visual arts as a tool for communication. She has a BA in Interior Architecture from the Lebanese American University, and a Masters of Concept and Spatial Design from Domus Academy in Milan with focus on: hybrid industries. She has received training in Social Entrepreneurship with the UNAOC and Fondazione CRT, which resulted in the invitation to speak at UN - World Cities Day 2014 in support of human-centered urbanization.

Salem Al-Qassimi

Salem Al-Qassimi is a multidisciplinary graphic designer and entrepreneur. He is currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Design at American University of Sharjah (AUS), College of Architecture, Art and Design.

Al-Qassimi studied Multimedia Design from AUS, and earned an MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), during which he also served as a teaching assistant and instructor.

After having worked at various companies in the UAE and abroad, Al-Qassimi founded Fikra Design Studio in 2006 — a global award-winning multidisciplinary design studio. Fikra’s work investigates, and promotes the culture and identity of the region through its design work and educational programs.

Al-Qassimi has been awarded the Young Creative Entrepreneur Culture Award by the British Council, and has been chosen in Forbes Middle East ranking list “The Leading Young Entrepreneurs in the U.A.E.

Zeinab Alhashemi

Zeinab Al Hashemi was born and is based in Dubai. She is a conceptual artist and designer specialising in site-specific installations, spatial art and modern public sculpture. Her work is collaborative and she often experiments with new materials and techniques to create strikingly contemporary works that draw on and reinterpret the symbols and traditions of her Emirati culture.

Her practice is driven by an ongoing exploration of the concepts of space and time. Her works are intriguing and interactive as by deconstructing and reconstructing her chosen medium, she tells a visual story, bringing to the foreground that which would normally be overlooked.

Zeinab is the designer behind Hexalite, the Design Week Installation presented in collaboration with Swarovski.

Elias Enastas

Elias Anastas is a Palestinian architect and designer. He studied architecture at l’Ecole d’architecture de Paris Val de Seine where he received a Masters in 2007. In 2009, he won the first prize for the Edward Said national Conservatory in Bethlehem and, back to Bethlehem, followed the construction of the project. In 2014, he was awarded the 40 under 40 award for young European architects. In 2011, Elias founded Local Industries a project born from the desire to put direct collaboration with local artisans at the heart of the process and to look for ways to minimize energy consumption for the creation and production of industrial design.

Ayeh Naraghi

Ayeh Naraghi is the Founder and Managing Director of Alcove Advisors, a UAE-based policy and strategy consulting firm specializing in culture and development. Previously, she served as culture programme specialist with UNESCO in Paris and Doha where she focused on supporting the development of creative industries, facilitating artist mobility, and revamping funds for cultural projects in emerging economies.