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BD Barcelona's PostCraft collection

BD Barcelona champions Arab designers with new collaboration project

Dezeen promotion: furniture brand BD Barcelona Design and arts organisation Creative Dialogue have revealed plans to collaborate with five designers from the Gulf region, in a project that aims to celebrate Arab creativity.

BD Barcelona is partnering with design establishments in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain to create the PostCraft Collection. With help from Barcelona-based Creative Dialogue, the brand has enlisted a talented local designer from each of these locations, to create works that merge traditional Arab artisanal skills with contemporary aesthetics.

BD Barcelona's PostCraft collection
The PostCraft Collection will include textured vases by Sharjah-based artist HE Sheikha Hind Majid Al Qassimi

The individuals chosen to participate include Sharjah-based artist HE Sheikha Hind Majid Al Qassimi, Kuwait-based interior designer Loula Al Radwan and architect duo Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz from Jeddah.

Doha-based multidisciplinary artist Aisha Al Sowaidi, and conceptual architect Maysam Al Nasser from Manana will also be contributing to the collection.

BD Barcelona's PostCraft collection
Maysam Al Nasser from Manana has designed a cabinet for the collection

The project is curated by Syrian-Spanish architect and Creative Dialogue founder Samer Yamani, who sees it as an opportunity to spotlight design from a region that is often overlooked.

"It's crucial to embrace local talents and highlight their heritage to feed the global desire for cultural diversity and to participate in the economic shift in the Middle East and North Africa," he said.

BD Barcelona's PostCraft collection

Kuwait-based Loulwa Al Rawan is creating an installation inspired by the moon"PostCraft will act as a platform to expose the work of designers to an international market, giving them the visibility they deserve," he added. "More creative voices should be heard, and more cultural bridges should be built".

BD Barcelona was established in the 1970s. The company often works with international designers, with past collaborations including a range of stitched wood cabinets by Swedish duo Färg & Blanche and a dressing table inlaid with crystals by Chinese studio Neri&Hu.

BD Barcelona's PostCraft collection
Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz from Jeddah will contribute a table

The company's art director Ramóm Úbeda believes that the majority of brands place too much focus on European designers.

"The design world is geographically badly distributed. It focuses on a few European capitals… what happens outside of this scenario does not seem to exist," he said. "There is also creative life and a lot of talent in the rest of the world".

BD Barcelona's PostCraft collection
The fifth participant is Doha-based multidisciplinary artist Aisha Al Sowaidi

The PostCraft collection will debut on 13 October 2017 at BD Barcelona's London showroom, at 12-14 Berry St.