Arab Identity and Contemporary Design
Sunday 13 September —
14:00
- 14:45
The Talks — Hall 5
Description
How is Arab identity - shaped by diverse cultural legacies and historical, geopolitical, and economic contexts that continue to evolve - expressed through contemporary design? Moving beyond orientalist interpretations of vernacular crafts, motifs, and artisanal know-how (in the sense articulated by Edward Said), a new generation of designers is exploring, with fresh perspectives, the intersections between cultural heritage and contemporary identity, craftsmanship and technology, the Maghreb, the Levant and the Gulf, luxury and accessibility, the local and the global.
Inherently plural and constantly evolving, this design language is driven by processes of translation and exchange that extend beyond forms and uses to encompass production and exhibition ecosystems. The Institut du Monde Arabe Design Award offers a timely framework for understanding these emerging dynamics.
Panel discussion introduced by Anne-Claire Legendre, President of the Institut du Monde Arabe.
Participants
Etienne BastormagiArchitect, Designer and Founder - Studio Etienne Bastormagi
Arnaud Morand Exhibition curator and Artistic director
Mémia TaktakInterior architect, Designer, Scenographer and Founder - DZETA
Anne-France BerthelonJournalist
Etienne Bastormagi
Architect, Designer and Founder - Studio Etienne Bastormagi
Etienne Bastormagi’s architecture is shaped by movement – between disciplines, scales, and cultural contexts. Resisting fixed categories, he works through shifts and contrasts across typologies: memory and material, weight and lightness, rawness and refinement. Whether carving light into metal or drawing the city into an interior, his spaces and objects centre on creating new dialogues between place, pieces, and people. Since founding his studio in Beirut, Bastormagi has drawn on studies in Architecture and Urban Design, as well as a decade leading concept development across large-scale projects. Alongside his practice, Bastormagi leads workshops and academic collaborations between Beirut and Milan, teaching at the American University of Beirut and contributing to institutions such as the Lebanese American University, the American University of Sharjah, the Architectural Association, and the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies. Raised in Lebanon within a family of Armenian kitchen equipment manufacturers, Bastormagi spent his early years learning through making. This foundation in material sensibility continues to echo throughout his work. Now based in the loft above his grandfather’s former stainless-steel factory, he continues to experiment with construction and memory, surface and scale, reworking brutalist codes with a sense of lightness and play.
Arnaud Morand
Exhibition curator and Artistic director
Arnaud Morand is an exhibition curator and artistic director specialising in contemporary art across Europe and the Middle East, with a distinctive focus on public engagement and cultural accessibility. Working alongside the French Agency for the Development of AlUla (AFALULA) and the Royal Commission for AlUla, he shapes cultural programming strategies and develops museums and cultural infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, including co-curating Villa Hegra’s prefiguration. In 2022, he co-curated Noor Riyadh, a city-wide festival featuring over 150 local and regional artists with large-scale works and performances designed specifically for public spaces. As former French Cultural Attaché in Abu Dhabi, he oversaw Louvre Abu Dhabi’s opening and co-curated interdisciplinary programming connecting renowned institutions with diverse audiences. Named Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (2021), Morand champions art’s role in public life. He currently sit on the Curatorial boards of both Asia Now and Salon de Montrouge.
Mémia Taktak
Interior architect, Designer, Scenographer and Founder - DZETA
Mémia Taktak is an interior architect, designer, and scenographer. She is the co-founder of DZETA, an architecture and design studio based in Tunis, which she established with two partners. For more than twenty years, she has developed a multidisciplinary approach that brings together architecture, design, and craftsmanship. Internationally recognized, her work explores the relationships between materials, culture, and innovation, with a particular focus on the transmission of knowledge and the preservation of artisanal expertise.
Anne-France Berthelon
Journalist
Freelance out of an addiction to out-of-the-box thinking, Anne-France Berthelon is a creative strategy consultant, curator, and critic. Her zigzagging career, multidisciplinary approach, and interest in design as a global ecosystem at the intersection of architecture, art, fashion, and communication—along with her passion for traveling the world to discover the next generation of talent—have led her to collaborate with publications such as CULTURED at Home, Libération, IDEAT, The Good Life, and Ad China. Her 360° curiosity—undoubtedly her greatest luxury—permeates the singularity of her creative approach.