Token gestures

“Identity is such a crucial affair that one shouldn’t rush into it,” says American author, David Quammen. It’s a fair point but one wonders if, when it comes to Middle Eastern design, it might be time to pick up the pace.

What I mean is this. Every time I speak to someone about a project they’ve just completed in the region, I ask them about the brief. What was it? Were you able to stick to it? What challenges did you face?

And every time I ask the question, I get pretty much the same answer. Whether I’m talking to designers in Hong Kong, London, New York or down the road in Bur Dubai, if they are working on a project in the region, I get the same old response: “The client wanted a contemporary design with a Middle Eastern twist”.

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Whether it’s a ‘Middle Eastern twist’, ‘subtle Arabian influences’ or ‘rich regional undertones’, it seems like clients just can’t get enough of good old Middle Eastern design. Which, of course, begs the question of what, exactly, Middle Eastern design is.

There are some obvious answers. The mashrabiya motif, for example, is a much-abused Middle Eastern design element that seems to work itself into a whole host of interiors. But one wonders if designers are just resorting to token gestures, keeping clients happy by paying little more than lip service to the ‘Arabian’ aspect of their brief.

One then has to question what impact this has had on the development of a 21st century, Middle Eastern design language.
 
Quammen is right, one shouldn’t rush into their identity. But leave it too late and you might miss the chance altogether.

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