Disarming Design from Palestine

Exhibition view.

Maisa, apron with embroidered decoration telling the story of Maisa. Lullaby, baby blanket with embroidered Arabic lullaby from Beir al Sabee'.

Exhibition view.

Hasakah, miniature fishing boat showing maximum fishing distance with rope.

Exhibition view.

Under the olive tree, bucket hat with embroidered brim depicting olive branches.

Zátar w Zeit, two bowls of olive wood made for olive oil and thyme packaged in an embroidered bag.

Prototypes.

Exhibition view.

From the workshop at The Lab.

From the workshop.

From the workshop at the Gaza Camp, Jarash.

at the lab

Disarming Design from Palestine

In co-creation with Gaza refugee camp in Jerash as part of Amman Design Week

7 – 15 October 2017
The Lab

This exhibition displays the products developed by Disarming Design from Palestine, an inclusive design label that creates useful products from Palestine speaking of it’s current social landscape. Based in Ramallah, the program unites Palestinian crafts communities with contemporary designers and artists from Palestine with Master students from the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam to exchange knowledge, narratives, experiences and techniques.

During a two-week long workshop in September, a team of Jordanian, Palestinian and Dutch designers collaborated with local craftswomen and men from the Gaza refugee camp in Jerash to collaboratively develop a series of thought provoking products. The workshop, guided by Ghadeer Dajani (Disarming Design’s production manager), Annelys de Vet (Disarming Design's founder), Haya Bustami (Education and Community Outreach at Amman Design Week) and Reem Marji (architect, Darat al Funun team) — plus May Khoury (designer) as visiting tutor — sought to create collaborative learning experiences through multidisciplinary and international exchange. The participants produced a line of items that reflect on the reality in the camp and the stories the artisans shared, varying from a wooden labyrinth game to an origami folded bag, and from a luminous clothespin to a baby blanket with embroidered song lines.

A selection of the workshop’s outcomes were taken into production in the camp, and are being exhibited and sold at The Lab at Darat al Funun throughout Amman Design Week, alongside a show of the existing collection of the label. All together the goods will be telling alternative stories and reflect upon the function of creative practices in situations of conflict.

Participating designers: Rand Abu al-Sha’r (JO), Architect, Asja Keeman (NL), Master Student Design Sandberg Instituut, Mohammad Ishtay (PS), Product and interior designer, Tessa Meeus (NL), Master Student Design Sandberg Instituut, Fida Shaffi (PS), Political scientist and designer, Sherida Kuffour (NL), Master Student Design Sandberg Instituut, Nour Nsheiwat (JO), Designer, Rebekka Fries (NL), Sandberg Instituut Design alumni, Mariam S. Shukri (JO), Designer, Qusai al Saify (PS), Founder Origami Palestine, Aya Abu Ghazaleh (JO), Artist and designer.