An award hosted by “Tashkeel Dubai” to support young creators and designers
Damask and mother-of-pearl design wins Van Cleef Award
The winner, Moufida Mohieldin, will be given a week-long trip to Paris to attend courses led by creative and skilled craftsmen.
Photography: Ashok Verma
By designing a book stand made from two local materials in the country, damask wood and mother-of-pearl, the young Indian designer Mufida Mohieldin was able to win the Van Cleef & Arpels Award for Emerging Designer in the Middle East, in its ninth session, which is organized in cooperation with Tashkeel Center .
The design, which was unveiled yesterday at Dubai Opera, was titled "Evolution", while the theme for this edition of the award was "Renewal".
Inspired by the local culture, young designer Mufida Mohieldin has shaped the book stand in the form of the desert rose crystal formations that appear in spring, endowing it with the symbolism of perpetual growth.
The materials I worked on are all from the Emirates, namely damask wood and dazzling mother-of-pearl, which gives the design the ability to tell a heart-to-earth story of the Arabian desert.
Deputy Director of Tashkeel Center, Lisa Paul-Lechgar, told "Emirates Today": "It can be said that this exceptional initiative, in its ninth session this year, has established itself a good reputation in the field of identifying emerging talents, who would play a prominent role within The dynamic design scene in the region.”
She added, "After many discussions, the jury, whose members included the pioneering design expert, Nawaf Nahar Al-Nassar, chose the design presented by Mufida Mohieldin, given the aesthetic form and the story that the work carries."
Moufida Mohieldin said about this design to "Emirates Today": "I did not expect to win at all, especially since participating in the competition, for me, was a long learning journey. As a design student, I always strive to put the education I acquire in a conceptual form, and from Then I turn it into actual pieces.”
She pointed out that she wanted the design to reflect the local environment, which is why she chose to provide a bookend in a renewed way, and this made her look for a way to re-present the raw materials in a different and distinct way.
Mohieldin noted that obtaining raw materials was supported by the Dubai Municipality and Abu Dhabi Municipality, especially as it relied on pearl shells and damask wood, two of the materials that exist in nature.
Mohieldin worked on changing the final shape of the basic materials, explaining that she grinded the pearl shells, and re-mixed the materials to give them the shape of desert zigzags, explaining that as a young designer she had to work from a viewpoint that preserves the environment through designs.
judgement Commission
The jury for the Van Cleef & Arpels Prize consisted of representatives from Van Cleef & Arpels and Tashkeel, as well as interior architect, design mentor and pioneer in the contemporary design sector in Saudi Arabia, Nawaf Nahar Al-Nassar. .
The winner will receive a week-long trip to Paris to attend courses led by creative and skilled artisans with golden hands in jewelery making at the headquarters of L'Ecole Van Cleef & Arpels, the exclusive French school dedicated to promoting the techniques behind the world of fine jewelery and watchmaking.
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