On the invitation of Ramallah Municipality we have organized a design-create-shop in their new cultural space ‘Hosh Qandah’ from 28^th of August to the 8^th of September. During this course 9 Palestinian artists and designers collaborated with 5 international designers and over 16 artisans. Together they researched contemporary Palestinian identity and how to express that through useful locally made products.

Over the course of 2 weeks all participants collaborated intensely and discussed and improved their ideas amongst each other and in conversation with visiting critics. Activities that took place varied between guest lectures, screenings, visits to a variety of Palestinian artisans and workshops in and around Ramallah, a guided tour through the old and new City, a collective hike, collective lunches and other relevant activities. These activities and visits were inspirational, empowering and significant on a number of levels. It helped to bring the group closer to each other, releasing and giving a lot of energy as well as bringing a deeper understanding of Palestinian political reality, Palestinian artisanship, culture, design and society. It also puts the participants in close contact with artisans, directly interacting with them, design, develop, and implement altogether.

At the end of the create-shop 18 proposals for new designs were presented, which will be refined and developed further in the months following. During the final public presentation on 8^th of September in Hosh Qandah we collected feedback from the audience, which the participants carried with them in the finalisation of their designs.

Designer Juliette Lizotte participated in the create-shop and recorded this video-diary:

Narrative report Create-shop

Follow the full programme, read the briefing, the process, see all developed designs and engage with the reflections by the participants in this detailed narrative report.

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