Dar al-Hekma launches design symposium

Dar Al-Hekma College has launched a design symposium entitled "Identity" bringing together 21 local and international interior designers, fashion designers and architects. The event starts today but will be closed to the public. It will continue from Feb. 25 to Feb. 27. The experts will deliver workshop presentations, lectures and hold panel discussions with audience participation. Participants will discuss how identity defines and labels individuals and how it is viewed from different perspectives and disciplines. Speakers sharing their success stories include famous Saudi fashion designers Omar Ashour and Ghina Aseeri. They will offer their views on how a person's heritage and modern life can be combined in designs. "Fashion designers of such remarkable rank are embodiments of success. Many of our students look up to them. There is, indeed, a bright future waiting for our fashion graduates," said Dina Kattan, Fashion Design Program Director at Dar Al-Hekma College. She said the London College of Fashion and representatives from the British Council in Jeddah will also be at the event. The symposium will feature a well-known architect Maan Bajnaid. Some international speakers are architects Mostafa El-Sayed and Sara Saleh, who are working in Zaha Hadid's consultancy, and Hazem Sabbagh from Diyar Consultants. Sumayyah Dabbagh will also be present, alongside the Royal Institute of British Artists (RIBA). The symposium will also feature speakers on interior design, including Sami Nawar and Abdul Aziz Azem, a Saudi national and founder of DTS Design Tech Services who trained as an architect and diversified into lighting. Oonagh Donnell, program director of Interior Design at Dar Al-Hekma said the symposium will shed light on ways to preserve and enhance heritage and identity. Visual communication speakers include Tarek Atrissi, founder of Atrissi Agency in the Netherlands, and New York-based graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister. Kameel Hawa, the famous Arabic typographer from Al-Mohtaraf design house, will also speak at the event.   The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The public can attend on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tickets are available at SR 250. Non-Dar Al-Hekma students must pay SR 300 for both public days. From Arab News