Annelys Devet - Disarming design from Palestine. Photo: © Betul Ellialtioglu / Framer Framed Disarming design from Palestine at Framer Framed
Disarming design from Palestine is a platform for thought-provoking design from Palestine, performing as a design label. The project focuses on designs created in conscious and integrated ways. Often rooted in a story or incident encountered in day-to-day life across occupied Palestine, the designs become cultural objects and conversation starters. Now you can find a selection of their items at Framer Framed book store.
Disarming design from Palestine puts forward designs with a presence and narrative that opens our gaze, and stimulates critical thinking. The platform centres Palestinian voices and utilises its network to amplify them. It is a way to trigger reflective moments and open conversations that encounter the anchored realities the designs embody.
Their contemporary designs are based on existing manufacturing processes, with local resources and techniques. The organisation engages with designers and craftspeople, connecting work, agency, fair pay and solidarity networks – and activate the heritage of making together.
Disarming design from Palestine, Awakening Goggles
Disarming design from Palestine was founded in 2012 as a design project by artist Khaled Hourani and designer Annelys Devet in collaboration with the International Academy of Art Palestine (Ramallah) and the Sandberg Instituut (Amsterdam). Over the years, its organisational structure shifted while consistently remaining a unique platform at the intersection of design, crafts and social activism. Since 2015, the organisation has been registered as an independent Belgium-based non-profit organisation (vzw) committed to critical design, international distribution, and raising global awareness.
Since its foundation, numerous design workshops have been organised in which local design students and young professionals collaborated with international peers and Palestinian artisans to develop new products reflecting the lived realities in Palestine. Between 2015 and 2019, Disarming design from Palestine maintained a community centre, initially in Ramallah and later in Birzeit, offering a wide range of design-related events run by the local community. These experiences informed the founding of the temporary master’s programme ‘Disarming Design’ at the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam from 2020 to 2022.
Below you can listen to the podcast Scratching the Surface with Annelys de Vet:
Art and Activism / Palestine /
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