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Aesthetically-appealing and functional furniture, inspired by the holy month and created by a group of University of Bahrain (UoB) students for a design contest, will be featured tomorrow and on Sunday (June 18) at the Sakhir campus to delight and promote originality.
The Ramadan Furniture Design Competition was a small scale design contest organised by the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), a non-profit, student-led group that caters to the needs of design students across the majors, originally from April 10 to 21 and then extended due to its demand.
“The aim of the competition was to create a practical furniture design solution that best portrays the spirit and essence of the holy month of Ramadan by creating a spatial experience that is both emotional and spiritual, while serving the purpose of the blessed month,” said AIAS president Fatima Sayed Ali, a 22-year-old UoB architecture student from Hamad Town, who also happens to be part of one of the winning teams.
“This competition allowed students to channel their creativity and passion for design beyond their academic lives, while tapping into their spirituality by exploring realistic, and close to heart design solutions.”
The contest was open for all design majors and academic levels and it consisted of 10 entries from a total of 15 participants, that were either paired or in groups.
The competition was judged by an array of experts and creatives in the field such as Tamadher Al Fahal, Noor Al Alawi, and Dr Wafa Al Ghatam.
Their main judging criteria was based on different categories, including functionality and buildability, spiritual aspect, social aspect and aesthetics and creativity.
The Para Tedos design, featuring 22-year-olds Jordanian architecture student Yasmin Al Hindi, from A’ali, and Bahraini architecture student Noor Abdulshaheed, from Bilad Al Qadeem, took first place for their functional and practical design.
Fatima and her teammate Bahraini architecture student Ebrahim Jameel, 22, from Maqsha’a, secured the second spot for their Alcove design for best portraying the spiritual essence of Ramadan.
“It felt beyond amazing, even coming in second,” said Fatima. “Celebrating our efforts and creativity as students together with peers, mentors and professionals alike brings so much value to our student life and future careers and encourages a sense of community within the field.”
They combined children’s love to play hide-and-seek with their need to learn all aspects of Ramadan to create their design.
“So we started by narrowing down the activities that are unique to the holy month,” she added. “The most prominent one being reading the Quran, and we chose to have a piece dedicated to this activity. We also narrowed down the target users – children – who like to kind of hide under tables and chairs and other items that are closer to their smaller scale, and are also beginning to learn about the teachings of Ramadan. Combining those two things, we landed on a piece that encourages exactly that – a small-scale piece that allows them to isolate themselves to tap into their spiritualities by reading and listening to the Quran and other religious texts.”
Bahraini architecture student Eman Hussain, 20, from Muharraq, came third with her Al-Sadu concept for her creativity in translating her idea.
The teams took home cash prizes. Third received BD50, second place clinched BD100 and first place won BD150, as well as the opportunity to execute their design in real life dimensions.
Their work was recently placed on display at Mashq Art Space and Gallery, and now the winning designs, all in full-size glory, will be featured in the university’s annual art exhibition.
“The AIAS team and I feel endlessly grateful for all the support we’ve been given,” shared Fatima. “From the words of encouragement from our wonderful instructors to the trust our generous sponsors have offered us, we hold it close to our hearts and will continue to be inspired and encouraged to make it all count.
“We will continue to run and provide an encouraging, competitive environment for design majors, I’m sure for many years to come. The 2022-2023 AIAS Chapter will end the year with another design competition that will be held during the summer vacation, so stay tuned for that.”
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