The first designers to have residencies at Tashkeel will display their work in an exhibition which will be on show through March 3, 2018.

In 2017, Tashkeel welcomed its first Designers-in-Residence. From October to December, Christine Müller (Austria) and Fay McCaul (UK) were given free reign to utilise a wide range of facilities and specialist equipment to further their creative practice. The first designers to have residencies at Tashkeel will display their work in an exhibition which will be on show through March 3, 2018.

In tandem with developing their own work, both Christine and Fay engaged with the local community through a range of artist-led workshops and talks at Tashkeel, Dubai Design District and the UAE government initiative Youth x Hub.

During Dubai Design Week in November, Fay McCaul hosted a workshop for UAE residents and visitors to design and create their own geometric wall hangings. Participants experimented with traditional textile processes, in particular foil and sublimation printing. They then designed their own patterns and print on laser-cut plywood. The plywood tiles linked together to make individual geometric artworks.

Lisa Ball Lechgar, Deputy Director of Tashkeel, said: “As Dubai Design District and events such as Dubai Design Week raise the profile of design in the UAE, the integration of designers into the longstanding Artist-in-Residence programme represents a logical progression for Tashkeel. We are extremely keen to share the results of Christine and Fay’s design work here with a wider audience through the In Residence exhibition.”

In Residence marks the culmination of each artist’s journey in the UAE, where they were encouraged to push the boundaries of their chosen disciplines and explore new techniques, materials and methods of working while responding to their experiences of living and working in the Gulf. The residencies ran from late September to December and were the first such residencies either designer had undertaken.

Catch the exhibition at Tashkeel, running daily through 3 March, 2018. For more information visit: Tashkeel Exhibition