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On artist-run solidarity platforms
على منصات التضامن التي يديرها الفنانون Kunsthal Gent, 21-22 March, 2024
Leaving 2023 in grief
مغادرة عام 2023 في الحزن A year in retrospect, 2023
Ways to translate solidarity to action
طرق ترجمة التضامن إلى عمل 20 October 2023
Infrastructures for solidarity through design
مقومات للتضامن من خلال التصميم Pianofabriek, Brussels, 5-6 October 2023
Disarming Design ?
تصاميم مجرّدة Forum+, February 2023
Qastina is to root myself again
قسطينة يعيدني لجذوري من جديد Bethlehem-Brussels, 15 February 2023
2022, a year to solidify
عام 2022 ، سنة يجب ترسيخها Palestine, Belgium and beyond, 2022
From Checkpoint bag to Blacksac
من شنطة الحاجز إلى البلاك ساك Al Quds, 2015 – Al Khalil, 2022
2021, a year in retrospect
٢٠٢١ سنة مفصليّة January 2022
Call for solidarity
نداء للتضامن Until liberation
Masters programme Disarming design
ماجستير معهد ساندبرج Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam, 2020 — 2022
Design for Disarming times
التصميم لأوقاتنا المجرِّدة Onomatopee publishers, 2020
Life of the Palestinian rug
ورشة البساط الفلسطيني Birzeit, September - October 2020
Facemask from Gaza
قناع الوجه من غزة August 2020
Hosh Jalsa
حوش جلسة Birzeit, 2018 – 2020
Marketing workshop
ورشة التسويق Birzeit, January – February 2020
Bags Prince Claus Awards
حقائب صندوق الأمير كلوز Amsterdam, 4 December 2019
Crossing Boundaries lecture
محاضرة "اجتياز الحدود" VCUQatar, Doha, 19-22 November 2019
Intimate terrains
إقتراب الآفاق Birzeit, 21–29 august 2019
The real and the absent
جسور من الماضي Birzeit, June – September 2019
Young artisans market
سوق الحرفيّين الشّباب Birzeit, 2019
Reworlding Ramallah
إعادة قولبة العالم : رام الله Birzeit, January – April 2019
Thought-provoking December gifts
هدايا محفّزة للفكر في فترة الأعياد Droog, Amsterdam, 6 December 2018 – 6 January 2019
Collective thinking
تفكير جماعي Hosh Jalsa, Birzeit, November – December 2018
My house is your house
البيت بيتك Design Museum Ghent, 16 February – 15 April 2018
Nieuwe Instituut
معرض نيوي انستتوت Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, november 2017
Amman Design Week
أسبوع عمان للتصميم Darat al Funun, Amman, October 2017
Dream versus reality
الحلم مقابل الواقع Amman, September 2017
Dream Defenders
مجموعة "دريم ديفندرز" Ramallah, 17 August 2017
Design Museum Cologne
متحف التصميم، كولونيا Cologne, 14 May 2017
Henry Van De Velde Awards
جائزة هنري فان دي فيلد Bozar, Brussels, January – February 2017
Reaching beyond borders
تجاوز الحدود January, 2017
Welcome home
الدار دارك Ramallah, 8 – 30 October 2016
Hosh Qandah, create-shop 2016
حوش قندح، ورشة التصميم ٢٠١٥ Ramallah, August – September 2016
Gaza & Jerusalem, create-shop 2015
ورشة التصميم من غزة للقدس Gaza & Jerusalem, 26 August – 8 September 2015
Qalandiya international
قلنديا الدولي IAAP, Ramallah, 27 October – 15 November 2014
Ramallah, Create-shop 2014
ورشة التصميم ٢٠١٤ Ramallah, Bethlehem, 21 October – 7 November 2014
Eye on Palestine
العين على فلسطين KVS, Brussels, 24 March – 5 April 2014
Conflict & design
التصميم و الصراع C-Mine, Genk, 15 December 2013 – 9 March 2014
Bethlehem, create-shop 2013
ورشة التصميم ٢٠١٣ Bethlehem, 30 Sep – 12 Oct 2013
Ramallah, create-shop 2012
ورشة التصميم ٢٠١٢ Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, 1 – 15 September 2012
Subjective atlas of Palestine
أطلس فلسطين الذاتي Ramallah, 2007
Beyond first impressions
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Beyond first impressions
ما بعد الإنطباع الأوّل

Hand-painted ceramic bowl and lid, hiding its inner beauty

Everything is not what it seems in Palestine. There is always another story to tell and another layer to peel before reaching the core. Because of the Israeli occupation, there is an ongoing and distinct loss of Palestinian heritage. Houses and buildings are depopulated from their indigenous, Palestinian presence and “renovated” to appeal to the colonisers’ white-washed outlook. This strikes designer Ghadeer Dajani upon arriving at a concealed mosque in the old city of Jerusalem. Israeli urban policy polished it from the outside, but it remains imbued with Palestinian life.

The ‘Beyond First Impressions’ ceramic bowl represents this narrative. It is literally white-washed, shiny and plain on the outside, forming a basic first impression. However, inside the bowl, a reflection of Palestinian life can be found in rich colours, intricate patterns, symbols, and shapes. You need to lift the lid to experience the real story.

 

Design
  • Ghadeer Dajani (PS)

    Ghadeer is a Palestinian interior designer based in Jerusalem. In this moment she is part of the Disarming Design Team as Production Manager. “On the market you see our heritage being used with a sort of ‘Copy-Paste’ attitude and this is why after some time, the products became outdated, repetitive and not responsive to the fast changing of contemporary societies we live in. The same goes also for the design of the products; stiking a piece of embroidery on an object is not enough to make it stand out as a Palestinian item and the narration behind the product becomes weaker anad not be perceivable by other people. Today, with technology, everything changes so fast and so sudden, we need to be able to act upon what is happening around us. The beauty of the past needs to be reinvented according to the possibilities and necessities we have today, in a creative and well thought way.” — From the interview with Ghadeer Dajani December 2015

    “Art, design, crafts, they all have to be part of the resistance against the occupation, as an element within a mosaic power against foreign rule. It has to reflect the beauty and the strength of Palestine, just like poetry and literature are doing. DDFP brings this together, representing a circle of artists and artisans, as well online as to the rest of the world. Before I attended my first create shop in 2015, I wasn’t thinking to highly of our local crafts production. It felt as it was being restricted to traditional embroidery, and to the usual products in ceramics and glass and so on. For us, we always saw the same things over and over again in the market. There was never someone who would do something different or revolutionary. Disarming design made us aware that we have this heritage and that we could something new with it. That it is Palestinian, a part of our identity and that we can be proud of it. It feels that until now people have been scared to try new things. In the way artisans were doing things they were earning their living. So why risk all that for doing something out of the box? The idea of working with designers is also very new. We weren’t really trusted with our innovative, creative concepts and approaches. So collaborating felt like an experiment for both sides, where people stepped in with quite some reservations and resistance. It took time to overcome these sentiments. But after a while, it turned out to be very beneficial for all of us. I definitely have developed my ideas thanks to the way the craftspeople I have worked with have taught me new techniques and different ways of doing things. DDFP is trying to support low and middle-income businesses, but it is true that they currently cannot significantly contribute to the financial sustainability of any of the artisans or designers. What we see happening on the other hand is that they start to become a catalyst for other NGO and organisations, and maybe, when they all would join forces, we can work towards a more worthwhile economical position. It is nice to see that people, after they participated at the create shops, are starting to create an independent network. It seems that we finally are going to reach a point that we can establish a network that can include everybody involved and interested in Palestinian design and crafts. We are not there yet, but it is definitely under construction.” — From Kurt Vanbelleghem interview, Can one really benefit from a social design project, or is it just another spin at the wheel?

Production
  • Hebron Glass & Ceramics Factory (PS)

    The tradition of glassblowing continues today in three factories just north of the city, a short distance between the town of Halhul and Hebron. Two of the factories are owned by the Natsheh family. They produce primarily souvenirs, most of which are also used as household items. A large hall close to each of the factories displays wine glasses, dishes, bowls, flower pots, and other products. Although most objects are not decorated, some have artistically applied glass strings. Metallic decoration is a recent innovation of the industry.

    Glass beads for jewellery have traditionally been made in Hebron. Blue beads and glass beads with ‘eyes’ (owayneh) were made and used as amulets since they were considered particularly effective against the evil-eye.

    In the old city’s Al-Kazazin quarter (Kazazin meaning ‘people who make glass’), three families operated 14 glass factories. Today, there are only two of them left, run by the Natsheh family. The first Intifada, combined with the affluence of cheap goods from China and the rise in oil prices forced the majority of glass shop owners out of business. Both remaining factories have relocated to the entrance of the city, because tourists are sometimes fearful to go too deep into the old city.

    Mr. Hamdi – who runs the Hebron Glass & Ceramics Factory together with his brother -started working when he was 17, in 1967. Nowadays, he exclusively deals with administrative aspects, but he is still capable to tell which one of his workers did which piece just by looking at it. The savoir-faire is passed down from father to son, but some are more talented than others and each glass-blower insufflates his own personal touch into his work. The job is hard, sitting seven hours a day next to an over 1000°C hot oven. Workers learn from early childhood and continuously refine the skill. Hebron Glass is the leading product of those companies. The name originally applied to the national hand-crafted, mouth-blown glass named in Arabic Zujaj Nafakh. Because the color blue is a cultural favorite in the Arab world, Hebron Glass came to describe the blue glass products, both the light turqoise blue (copper blue) and the deep royal blue (cobalt blue). The factories also specialize in a Middle Eastern favorite, Imzakhraf, which is a dot-painted, Arabesque design technique on traditional blown glass.

    https://www.facebook.com/شركه-زجاج-وخزف-الخليل

  • 2015

    Ceramic

    7.5 x Ø 15 cm

25,00

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