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VCUarts Qatar Presents an Official Collateral Event at La Biennale di Venezia
Yasamin Shaikhi
Materials Library Associate, Library
Yasamin Shaikhi is an interdisciplinary designer with a BFA in Interior Design and an MFA in Design from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her work centers on material exploration and hands-on experimentation, using existing materials in new ways to challenge conventional boundaries and spark unexpected outcomes.
She has worked on a range of interior design projects, from exhibition design to residential and hospitality spaces, as well as material research focused on biobased formation and, most recently, product design. Driven by a deep interest in sustainability, she is committed to making it more than just a conversation and transforming it into functional, tangible design solutions. Yasamin treats materials as collaborators, giving them their own voices and pushing them beyond expected limits.
Born and raised in Qatar, Yasamin’s sense of place and identity is shaped by a personal archive of memory. Nostalgia plays a central role in her practice. She draws from the textures, stories, and objects of childhood to revive fading designs and reimagine them with new purpose. In doing so, her work becomes a quiet act of remembrance and translation. It becomes an invitation for others, especially those unfamiliar with these pasts, to inhabit them anew.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar in 2026, where she presented Loudest Grain, a commissioned installation exploring the relationship between materiality, communication, and place.
MFA Thesis: Food Waste Renaissance: From the Table, for the Table
Education:
- Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, 2019
- Master of Fine Arts in Design, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, 2025
Awards:
- Emerging Talent Award, Product Design, Fast Company Innovation by Design Summit, Doha, Qatar, 2025
- AEB Design Excellence Award, 2019
Selected Exhibitions:
- Loudest Grain, Art Basel Qatar, M7, Doha, Qatar, 2026
- Food Waste Renaissance, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria, 2025
- Tableya, Circolo del Design, Turin, Italy, 2025
- Food Waste Renaissance, Art & Design Now, M7, Doha, Qatar, 2025