Tashkeel is delighted to unveil the distinguished participants of the Tanween Design Programme 2025, marking its twelfth edition. The esteemed designers who shaped this year’s collection are: Hessa Alghandi, Jasim Alnaqbi, Sketch & Space Studio (Amna Alshamsi & Hanan Rafiee), Nasser Alghawi, Tasneem Al Nabhani, Clock & Cloud Studio (Alefiyah Ustad & Reem Shawkat), and Sarah Al Dulaimi. Now in its twelfth iteration, the Tanween Design Programme continues to champion sustainability and cultural dialogue through design. Over the course of a year, participants engaged in rigorous experimentation, material research, and collaboration with local manufacturers. The resulting works represent a diverse spectrum of approaches, each piece rooted in the UAE’s material culture and translated into contemporary design objects that speak to both heritage and innovation.
Hessa Alghandi
Inspired by the Emirati spirit of gathering, Lamah is a sculptural pendant light crafted from repurposed palm branches. What began as a discarded material found on a quiet roadside transformed into a design that captures the softness and movement of a sheila submerged in water. Minimal human intervention allows gravity and form to dictate the shape, producing an ambient glow that embodies warmth, nostalgia, and cultural memory. Lamah is both a reflection on material sensitivity and a poetic homage to the UAE’s enduring connection with the palm tree.
Jasim Alnaqbi
Haila is a jewellery cabinet inspired by the Emirati tradition of heirlooms passed through generations, symbols of continuity, memory, and love. The cabinet’s form draws from the shape of the traditional cardamom bangle, reinterpreting its curves in stainless steel electroplated to mimic brass, lined with velvet and fitted with a mirror. Like the spice from which it takes its name, Haila is layered with meaning, representing wealth, aroma, and emotion. It bridges heritage and modernity, transforming daily rituals of adornment into acts of reflection and care.
Sketch & Space Studio (Amna Alshamsi & Hanan Rafiee)
Al Ghawas pays tribute to the UAE’s pearl diving heritage, an era defined by endurance, unity, and beauty. Using reclaimed wood, metal offcuts, and sustainable fabrics, the studio reimagines waste as material for storytelling. The chair’s form echoes the silhouette of traditional dhows, its layered textiles symbolizing the passage of time and the resilience of families who awaited the divers’ return. Merging environmental responsibility with cultural memory, Al Ghawas stands as a contemporary homage to a vanishing history of courage and craftsmanship.
Nasser Alghawi
Crafted from over six thousand date stones, the Al Nawa Collection transforms an everyday organic element into art. Both chandelier and display table explore the palm tree’s symbolism of generosity and renewal, highlighting the natural beauty of the date pit as it refracts light through eco-friendly resin. Each component is meticulously hand-assembled to create rhythmic patterns of warmth and illumination. The result is a unified sculptural statement, balancing light and matter, tradition and innovation, simplicity and depth.
Tasneem Al Nabhani
Bayn wa Bayn, meaning “in between”, captures the paradox of the Gulf landscape, where the movement of the sea meets the stillness of the desert. This console and mirror set uses Desert Board, a sustainable material made from palm frond waste, combined with stainless steel. The console’s flowing form and gradient tones evoke shifting terrains, while the mirror’s pixelated surface suggests transformation and duality, heritage and modernity, analog and digital. Bayn wa Bayn is a sculptural reflection on identity, adaptation, and balance within the region’s evolving cultural fabric.
Clock & Cloud Studio (Alefiyah Ustad & Reem Shawkat)
Loodo is a low table inspired by the evolution of gathering in the UAE, from traditional floor majlis seating to contemporary living spaces. Crafted from a custom bio-composite made with desert sand and natural dyes such as turmeric, henna, indigo, and charcoal, the table reclaims one of the country’s most abundant resources. The crystal glass top contrasts the raw tactility of sand, creating a dialogue between weight and transparency. Playful yet grounded, loodo celebrates connection, memory, and the rediscovery of overlooked materials.
Sarah Al Dulaimi
Inspired by the abaya, Oculus is a lighting piece that explores privacy, choice, and transformation. When unlit, it appears opaque and mysterious; when illuminated, layers of black and colourful chiffon are revealed through dimmable LED light. Made from reclaimed fabric offcuts sourced from tailors in Abu Dhabi’s Madinat Zayed, Oculus reimagines textile waste into an object of beauty and meaning. The design embodies the values of modesty and self-expression, inviting viewers to experience the interplay between concealment and revelation.
