MANAMA: Symbolizing hope and beauty, an impressive stained-glass artwork by veteran British artist Sir Brian Clarke has been unveiled at Bahrain International Airport. Brimming with vibrant hues, brought alive by natural light shining through the glass, it is a visual symphony of geometrical details and natural elements, such as jasmine flowers, birds, and dragonflies. The work is called "Concordia" – the notion of living together in peace and harmony.

"What art does best is it transcends borders, speaks to everyone, brings us all closer together," Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa, Bahrain's minister of finance, said in the opening remarks at the April 10 unveiling event, attended by dignitaries including Bahrain's prime minister, Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa. "This visionary masterpiece by Sir Brian Clarke shines a light on the Kingdom of Bahrain's longstanding commitment to integrating our culture and heritage into national projects. But 'Concordia' is more than just a work of art. It is a symbol of Bahrain's openness, hospitality and ambition."

The work references Islamic geometry, and also features elements of medieval European tapestries and illuminated Christian manuscripts from the Books of Hours, prayer books from the Middle Ages. The work itself, standing tall at 34 meters in width and 17 meters in height, was an intensive labor of love that took more than two years to design, produce and install. 

The colorful glass of “Concordia” was crafted by a team of artisans in Germany over a period of 40 days. It took 43 days to install the 127 individual panel work at the airport. For Clarke — whose stained-glass pieces can be found in the UK, Spain and Japan, among other places — “Concordia” has a special place in his practice. 

“I have always had a dream of making a composition in a building on a great rectangular scale that is like a view through to another world,” he said in a written statement shared after Arab News attended the unveiling event. "It’s something that in some ways unites the two parts of the world, the one that I come from and this region. Everything I have ever learned about stained glass is in some ways expressed in this window. I am very grateful that I am able to share my enthusiasms about paradise with anyone who sees this window.”

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.

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.