Designer, curator of Hangar exhibition discuss vision

AMMAN — The Hangar exhibition, as part of Amman Design Week, is an agglomeration of design, finding solutions to everyday problems and creating an experience for the visitor. Designer Dina Haddadin and curator Ahmed Humeid said they wanted to create “an experience and a journey” for the visitor. 

Haddadin said she designed the exhibition after Humeid selected 100 works out of more than 330 submitted designs 

“It was a real challenge to work with those 100 designs. The hangar is a different setting because it is not within a booth. After Ahmed selected the pieces, it was a journey from the sketch on paper to the implementation of the design itself. Most of the pieces were actually made especially for the Amman Design Week ,” she told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

 “From the start until the end, there is a story that is told; whether it’s scale, material, colours, functionality or elements of beauty. It is all embedded into a coherent story,” the Jordanian designer added.  

Haddadin, who was the principal designer of the Amman Design Week, said the visitor starts his or her journey at the exhibition’s plaza where the pieces convey messages on topics like nature and water resources. 

“It was a challenge to put all these pieces in a coherent scenario,” she added.  

Humeid described the hangar exhibition as one of the “main attraction points” in this year’s event. 

“It brings together the works of 100 designers which is more than last year,” he told The Jordan Times.  

He said that the works are displayed in a concentrated space that showcases the works of professional designers from the younger generation next to established artists.  

“Every curator has his own interpretation of the role of design and what type of design is shown every year,” he added. 

Humeid said his strategy this year is to stay true to the theme of movement and motion. 

“These two aspects can be interpreted in many different ways,” he added. 

Humeid said he really wanted the exhibition to show the diversity of design that is available in Jordan and the region. 

“You will see the smallest types of design in the designs of logos, books; there is also the design of furniture and objects for the home, in addition to objects at the architectural scale,” the Jordanian architect added.  

He stressed that design in Jordan "cannot be a luxury, it is a necessity". 

“It should not be for the few, it should be for the many as well, and we need visitors to recognise that these projects can really affect their life,” he insisted.  

Humeid said that the challenge for his colleague Haddadin and her team was to tell the story the curator wanted to convey while respecting each artwork's own message and characteristics. 

“So the way you position these pieces is celebrating the designs,” he added.