Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — The Jameel House of Traditional Arts in Jeddah, Art Jameel’s center for artisanship, architectural discourse and heritage preservation, has expanded the scope of its traditional arts program, delivered by the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, with the addition of a product design module that will give a hands-on exploration of the connections between heritage, product design and traditional craft. The addition of the new module aims to help artisans in Saudi Arabia achieve a sustainable livelihood in the practice of their craft, through the design of products for the market.

The new program opened with 16 participants welcomed to the Jameel House by George Richards, Art Jameel’s Head of Heritage Programs, and Delfina Bottesini, the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts Senior Program Manager.

The one-year program at the Jameel House retains its core focus on the traditional arts of Jeddah’s historic district, Al-Balad, with fieldwork to study and document the rich architectural heritage of the old town, including its gypsum façades and roshan windows made of intricate mangour woodwork. Alongside theory modules on Islamic geometry and color harmony, practical modules include dye-making, painting, ceramics, gypsum-carving, parquetry and mangour.

The new module, which precedes the final project, explores the intersection of heritage and design, with participants designing and producing prototypes of real-world products inspired by Al-Balad. The module aims to help participants translate their craft skills into restoration work as well as product design, both key routes to sustainable employment as craftspeople.

“Art Jameel’s support for artisanship and the preservation of heritage in Saudi Arabia is built on a firm belief in the importance of helping people in the heritage sector achieve sustainable livelihoods,” said George Richards, head of Heritage Programs at Art Jameel. “Alumni from the Jameel House in Jeddah are already setting up their own design businesses, working on the restoration of Al-Balad, and practicing as artists, but we want to do more to support the sector and are delighted to be enhancing the one-year program with this new module on product design.”

“The Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts has seen the Jeddah program and alumni grow over the last four years with phenomenal speed and creative drive,” said Delfina Bottesini, the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts Senior Program Manager. “We have witnessed our ethos and methodology, that of teaching arts and crafts as contemporary living traditions, coming to life in the hearts, minds and hands of a new generation of Saudi artisans. We are very impressed with the quality of ideas and craftsmanship achieved by the participants in such relative short time and we look forward to continue nurturing generations of Saudi artists, designers and craftspeople through our newly designed program at the Jameel House of Traditional Arts in Jeddah”.

“When I graduated from the Jameel House in 2017, there was little support for artisans looking to apply their craft as a trade,” said Yusra Al Anesi, who works at the Jameel House as a teaching assistant and technical specialist, and a consultant at KHAM makerspace and collective in Jeddah in 2018 founded by another Jameel House alumni. “The new Jameel House program will open doors for its participants in finding jobs and livelihoods and help the heritage sector as a whole become more sustainable.”