Latest news with #Srouji
Tatler Asia
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
Inside Gucci's ‘Bamboo Encounters' exhibition at Fuorisalone 2025 in Milan
Above Hand-blown glass for Srouji's pieces The exhibition highlighted the works of the Swedish-Chilean artist Anton Alvarez; Palestinian architect, artist and researcher Dima Srouji; Kite Club, a Dutch design collective comprising Bertjan Pot, Liesbeth Abbenes and Maurice Scheltens; Austrian designer Laurids Gallée; French artist Nathalie Du Pasquier; Seoul-based designer and artist Sisan Lee; and lastly, the back studio, featuring duo Eugenio Rossi and Yaazd Contractor, who are based in Turin and Mumbai. 'Gucci's use of bamboo in its bags, including the Gucci Bamboo 1947, inspired me to research the historical use of bamboo for basket making. I love the idea of holding nature in the palm of your hand, shaping organic materials into inanimate forms that, over time, become cherished emotional companions,' says Srouji, whose work, Hybrid Exhalations , showcased found bamboo baskets with hand-blown glass additions. 'The Gucci Bamboo 1947 handbag, much like a woven basket, serves as both a vessel and a mediator—it holds a private space within, and its exterior is what faces the world. Carrying that contained space by your side as you move from one place to the next is conceptually really interesting, as that personal contained void moves next to you along the journey. This dual role of containment and exposure reflects how we navigate personal and public identities, carrying fragments of our inner world while presenting a surface to those around us.' Srouji adds that the combination of glass with bamboo gives her a sense of weightlessness and lightness that sparks joy. Read also: From Blackpink's Jisoo wearing Dior to Rihanna carrying Gucci, how celebs style their luxury bags Above 'Gucci | Bamboo Encounters' poster When asked what aspects of bamboo have inspired her, the Palestinian artist quips, 'I love the anonymous artisans that have been weaving bamboo baskets worldwide through multiple traditions and techniques. Through my research, I fell in love with the different characters in the baskets. How the bamboo is handled tells us a lot about the patience and personality of the person behind the pieces.' Above Kite Club's Liesbeth Abbenes and Maurice Scheltens Above Kite Club's Bertjan Pot The Dutch design collective Kite Club's piece Thank You, Bamboo , a series of kites made from contemporary materials and bamboo, is a nod to their roots. 'We have been making and flying kites as teenagers before our creative practices started. Making kites feels a bit like returning to our roots and where our creativity started. Both studios, Bertjan Pot and Scheltens & Abbenes, are applied art practices where we often work on commission. Kite Club should always feel like a hobby where the most important people to please are us. In that sense, kites reflect freedom in many ways,' the collective expresses. Although kites have been made with bamboo for ages, Kite Club admits they are more used to working with glass fibre and carbon fibre for their kite frames. '[And yet,] Switching back to bamboo was much easier than expected, and these will probably not be the last kites we made with bamboo…The great thing about kites is that technique and design both work together…We will keep making kites with bamboo frames and thank bamboo for its strength, flexibility and lightness!' Pot, Abbenes and Scheltens unanimously declare. 'The great thing about kites is that technique and design both work together…We will keep making kites with bamboo frames and thank bamboo for its strength, flexibility and lightness.' - Kite Club - Above 'Thank You, Bamboo' by Kite Club at the exhibit Above Putting together Kite Club's piece for the exhibit Gallée, who reinterpreted the material through his resin design pieces titled Scaffolding , was drawn by the bamboo's strength, texture and the precision of its parallel lines. 'But beyond its aesthetic qualities, what fascinates me is how nature has 'manufactured' this near-perfect material,' he says. Gallée envisions this aspect; its simplicity and immediate usability will become increasingly important. 'Bamboo has been used for millennia as a low-tech construction material, but now, in contrast to objects that simply emerge from a printer, it has the potential to thrive as a more natural alternative.' Above Austrian designer Laurids Gallée working on Scaffolding Above Gallée reinterprets bamboo through his resin design pieces 'Mastering the details almost always leads to better work, so I don't see creativity and technicality as separate.' - Laurids Gallée - The Austrian designer also believes that technical precision is integral to the creative process. 'Mastering the details almost always leads to better work, so I don't see creativity and technicality as separate,' Gallée says, explaining that his work, Scaffolding, requires a deep understanding of materials and complex manufacturing techniques but that, in the end, the process should never overshadow the result. The final piece–the experience it creates–matters more than the technical challenges behind it. Alongside the exhibition that ran in April, Gucci | Bamboo Encounters hosted a series of special talks open to the public, featuring conversations with the exhibition's designers, industry guests and creatives. NOW READ A Fashion Odyssey: James Reid's style journey with Gucci Inside the Gucci family villa in Rome, now with a reduced selling price of US$13.02 million Bea Alonzo reflects on her career, life, love and learning to move on
Arab News
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Arab designers shine at Milan Design Week
DUBAI: Arguably the largest annual global gathering for interior and furniture designers, Milan Design Week, staged this year from April 7-13, saw several designers and firms from the Arab world present at the prestigious event. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ One exhibition there, Gucci's 'Bamboo Encounters,' curated and designed by 2050+ and its founder Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, explores the role of bamboo in the brand's history, featuring specially commissioned pieces by contemporary designers from around the world. In post-World War II Italy, raw materials were difficult to source and so the fashion house's founder Guccio Gucci opted for the lightweight and resilient bamboo as an alternative handle for bags. Florentine artisans creating Gucci bags supported a design that incorporated bamboo. The result was the iconic Gucci Bamboo 1947 bag. Among the various commissioned designers in 'Bamboo Encounters' is Dima Srouji, a Palestinian architect and artist. Her bamboo-style baskets, 'Hybrid Exhalations,' showcase basketry traditions of the Levant, incorporating hand-foraged bamboo with delicate blown glass by the Twam family in Palestine. The pieces evoke a sense of fragile beauty and resilience. During her three months of research, Srouji fell in love with the history of basket-making. 'I really like this idea of time passing and the amount of time that it requires to weave baskets really slowly by these anonymous artisans from all over the world,' she told Arab News. 'Some of these baskets were found online, like on eBay. Some of them were from different auctions, and each one is from a different country. Some are even flower baskets from Japan; fish baskets and egg baskets from Philippines, one is a World War II hat from the UK from an English gentleman that got it from Vietnam in the 1940s.' Srouji transformed them into playful, organic forms by combining them with blown-glass pieces that she made with Palestinian glassblowers; the Twam family that she has been working with for the past 10 years. They are based in Jaba', a historic village located northeast of Jerusalem between Ramallah and Jerusalem. 'The combination of the glass and the baskets happened in my studio where I started weaving the glass into the already woven baskets and they became their own living creatures,' Srouji said. 'They're airy, playful, and each (piece) has embedded memories in them. Each one tells a different story from a different part of the world, and it's an important moment to think about joy and celebrate the history of Palestinian tradition, and especially during such a dark time.' At Isola Design Festival by Isola Design Group, which has offices in Dubai Design District (d3), several emerging designers from the Arab world presented their work. One is Jordanian designer Victoria Dabdoub who presented her first collection, 'Stone Objects: A Study of Core Solids,' made of several hand-shaped stone masses connected by a brass piece. The result is elegant and playful candle-holders that invite the user to make their own display using several pieces. 'My work looks at local practices in Jordan and Palestine and aims to work with local artisans to develop contemporary pieces,' Dabdoub said. 'My first collection is a collection of stone candle-holders that I made during two workshops in Amman, one involving metalwork and the other stonework.' She added: 'I think it is important to produce high-quality products locally. The stone is limestone from the south of Jordan and the brass is sourced in the market, likely from Italy or elsewhere. Whether I am working from Jordan or Palestine, it is important to try and incorporate local practices, especially given the war taking place and the number of voices that are unheard. Trying to say something through design, crafts and material and heritage is crucial.' Etereo, the creative studio based between Dubai and Milan, returns to Milan Design Week with an immersive exhibition at Nilufar Depot, featuring its popular 'Faraglioni' and 'Grottesche' collections. The alluring forms, materials and colors of these pieces celebrate the synergies between design and nature, especially those found in the Mediterranean. The 'Faraglioni' collection, produced exclusively for Nilufar in a limited edition, showcases the essence of the sea within interior spaces through sculptural designs — a centerpiece table, dining table, coffee table, and two consoles that pay homage to the famous Faraglioni rocks of Capri that represent timeless natural wonders and heritage.
