Years of Culture and M7 announced an open call inviting Qatari fashion designers specialising in embroidery to apply for CULTUKAR, a new collaborative design residency programme created to bring cultures together.

As part of the Qatar-Indonesia 2023 Year of Culture, CULTUKAR offers Qatari and Indonesian product and fashion designers a chance to collaborate with peers and traditional craft masters from Indonesia to create bespoke products and fashion items that will be profiled during major industry events later in the year.

Qatar Museums Director of Cultural Diplomacy Aisha Ghanem Al Attiya, said they are excited to invite Qatari fashion designers to participate in the CULTUKAR programme and engage with Indonesian culture and craft traditions. She said that participants will have the chance to explore traditional Indonesian craft techniques and collaborate with local artisans to create innovative designs.

M7 Director Maha Al Sulaiti explained that Indonesia’s vibrant textile traditions offer incredibly rich inspiration for residency participants to collaborate and create. She said that the fashion industry in Qatar has seen rapid growth and hopefully, this residency will continue to showcase Qatar’s talented creatives on the global fashion stage.

M7 is proud to partner with Years of Culture to champion creative talents and foster cross-cultural collaboration.

Designers are asked to prepare a personal statement and portfolio that best displays their work for submission through the Years of Culture website by 20 May 2023, 5 pm, Doha time.

Residency overview

The hybrid programme spans three months from May to July, including a ten-day onsite workshop in Tasikmalaya in West Java, Indonesia.

Participants will take part in various activities and will be tasked with considering the challenge of responsible production using sustainable materials and waste management.

Two Qatari designers will be chosen to participate in the residency. Each will be paired with an Indonesian peer to promote the exchange of ideas, knowledge transfer and open pathways for long-term collaboration. The two selected Qatari participants will join material designer Hana Surya and textile designer John Martono who will represent the Indonesian creative industries during the hybrid residency.

Hana Surya is a material designer and founder of Threadaputic, a small brand of local artisans with a shared passion for fabric reconstruction. John Martono, meanwhile, is known mostly as a textile designer, with a brilliant ability to combine textile science, embroidery and painting on silk to create a unique and highly personal technique.

International mentors

An incredible team of mentors and masters has also been assembled to support the participating designers.

  • Dr Tyar Ratuannisa, S Ds, M Ds, is a lecturer and researcher at the Craft and Tradition Research Group, Faculty of Arts and Design at the Technology Institute of Bandung, Indonesia. She launched the Indonesia Trend and Color Studies laboratory in 2022 to explore traditional Indonesian textiles, their visual characteristics and aspects of colour.
  • Dr Kahfiati Kahdar, MA, earned her doctorate degree from the Technology Institute of Bandung’s Faculty of Design. She is currently lecturing in the same institute and works with the Indonesia Trend and Color Studies laboratory.
  • Tazkia Welong, M Ds, is a fashion illustration and concept development lecturer at ESMOD International. She is passionate about fashion and fine arts. Her work is highly conceptual, focused on the concept and development of creative ideas.
  • Uyung Aria is a digital creator, cultural advisor and an enthusiast.

Application process

The CULTUKAR residency will explore the richness of Tasikmalaya’s culture in the form of its craft. The residency are focused on these goals:

  • To identify the cultural wealth of Tasikmalaya through the diversity of embroideries that are closely related to the region’s natural resources
  • To understand the methods of collaboration during the design process between designers or between designers and the community
  • To analyse the correlation between embroidery and cultural identity, and how cultural identity shapes and enhances the concept, process or design
  • To develop artwork and designs that revive or transform Qatari and Indonesian traditions

Requirements

Please note that the residency programme is open only to Qatari nationals. Interested applicants should have at least two years of experience as a professional designers and knowledgeable in the fashion design process.

These requirements should be submitted with their application to considered for the programme

  • Portfolio with samples of previous works
  • Valid Qatar ID
  • A statement, at least 400 to 450 words, that respond to the following: Describe how you hope this residency will impact your design career and how you intend to use these experiences / skills in your future practice.

For more information, visit yearsofculture.qa.


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