VCUQatar Presents Shared Glass

Over the summer, VCUQatar’s MFA Design Studies students collaborated with Fabrica, a cutting-edge design and research center in the Vento Region of Italy, in a glass-blowing workshop. Through this workshop, students created a collection of “hybrid” objects: pieces that mixed and matched Middle Eastern and Western influences, shapes, and functions. Traditional forms were employed alongside with modern design language. The workshop was not merely a study session but provided a complete immersive environment, where students experienced not just design, but also art, history, food, culture, and were able to communicate professionally with their European colleagues.

The collection, featuring glassware designed for new domestic rituals, from the everyday to the celebratory, will be showcased in the exhibition ‘Shared Glass’ which expresses the joy of life, and the excitement of new experiences and new friendships. The exhibition is co-curated by Sidonio Costa, director of Katara Art Center and Constantin Boym, director, MFA.DESIGN at VCUQatar and runs from 1 December, 2011 until 7 January, 2012.

Project participants include Boym and VCUQatar MFA students Alia Khairat, Amin Matni, Rania Chamsine, Corby Elford, Imad Fadel and Sameh Ibrahim. Sam Baron, Valentina Carretta, Amaury Poudray, Dean Brown, Margaux Keller, Marie Dessuant are the collaborators from Fabrica.

“Design education today is inconceivable without global connecting,” said Boym. “Different universities, companies, different cultures in general, should be engaged in learning from each other, and in sharing knowledge and experience. At VCUQatar, we feel it is imperative to introduce our graduate students at MFA.DESIGN to different design institutions and to partake in their way of working and thinking. Italy, a country with established and sophisticated cultural traditions, came as a natural choice for such creative exchange. We were fortunate to have a working relationship with Fabrica, which provided an ideal venue for the workshop,” he said.

‘Shared Glass: A Design Collaboration between VCUQatar and Fabrica, Italy’ opens on 1 December, 2011 at the Katara Art Center, Building 5, with a reception at 6:00 PM. The exhibition will run until 7 January, 2012. The event is open to the public.