Design Insight - MASHRABIYA Collection
The MASHRABIYA design is inspired by the lattice works crafted out of wood and often seen in front of street-sided windows of traditional, residential houses of the upper class in the Middle Eastern to provide shade and privacy while allowing the cooling breeze to enter the room. Similar lattice works were also common in the Mughal Empire. There, they were often chiseled out of stone and better known under the name of Jali or Jaali.
Regardless of the cultural root, the patterns uses show similar characteristics. These traditional patterns follow an axial build-up, are hierarchical and additive in nature. We believe that such an arrangement might represent the past well but not the present, and we created the MASHRABIYA pattern which instills random, equality and aperiodic principle. Nevertheless, the newly created pattern has a strong association with the Arabic culture. It shall be understood as a contribution and continuation thereof. Furthermore, we applied the MASHRABIYA pattern to gently curved surfaces, an innovation as historic ornaments typically remained in two dimensions.
There are many variations of the MASHRABIYA design: there is the lentil-shaped element that creates a sensual object, or the Single Shell variation playing with concave / convex arrangements as well as different surface treatments to create slight modifications in shades of the color. The Cube and Tube series develops the design further into a sculptural dimension while the embellished version turns the design into a mesmerizing, gemstone encrusted treasure.
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