Playing Nine to Five is a project that aims to raise awareness of the presence of objects in everyday situations. We always surround ourselves with objects, some of them we touch and use everyday, and some of them we barely notice until they stop working. But are we always aware of our relations with them, or have we slightly taken them for granted? While our life quality has moved forward and our living pace has sped up, we tend to lose more of our attentions and sensitivities to things around us. During the design process, I used office space as a canvas to discuss and challenge our daily norms, where objects exist mainly as tools. I looked into our ‘unconscious behavior’ with objects, such as habits or recurring actions. In our everyday lives, these repetitions and rhythmic movements with objects are often being unnoticed or considered as ‘normal’. In this project, I worked with two office objects, a pen and a clock. Respectively, they represent different ways of exploring our present relations with objects. Pen is an object we use and carry with almost everyday. It is personal and close to our body. Clock, on the other hand, is an object that we barley touch, but constantly look at or search for. It shows the information of time. Both proposals are designed to bring attention to what we are using, when, and how, to create space for discussion and reflection. The purpose of this project is to tweak the way we interact with objects and explore our relations with objects through playfulness and curiosity. I see this project as an ongoing exploration and a potential development in the future.

Playing Nine to Five is a project that aims to raise awareness of the presence of objects in everyday situations. We often surround ourselves with objects. Some of them we touch and use everyday, and some of them we barely notice until they stop working. But are we always aware of our relations with them, or have we slightly taken them for granted? While our life quality has moved forward and our living pace has sped up, we tend to lose more of our attentions and sensitivities to things around us. During the design process, I used office space as a canvas to discuss and challenge our daily norms, where objects exist mainly as tools. I looked into our ‘unconscious behavior’ with objects, such as habits or recurring actions. In our everyday lives, these repetitions and rhythmic movements with objects are often being unnoticed or considered as ‘normal’.  In this project, I worked with two office objects, a pen and a clock. Respectively, they represent different ways of exploring our present relations with objects. Pen is an object we use and carry with almost everyday. It is personal and close to our body. Clock, on the other hand, is an object that we barley touch, but constantly look at or search for. It shows the information of time. Both proposals are designed to bring attention to what we are using, when, and how, to create space for discussion and reflection. The purpose of this project is to tweak the way we interact with objects and explore our relations with objects through playfulness and curiosity. I see this project as an ongoing exploration and a potential development in the future.

Everyday objects inspire and inform what I do. The personal histories and associations we may have with ordinary things are of great personal interest to me. Often times, these items reflect the social class, education, and background of the owners. I am drawn to these objects and the possibility of elevating them in a way that transcends their implied meanings (their worth, importance, and status). The transformation of the mundane is a method of working that allows associations to remain intact while bringing new meaning and perspective to the object. My method of working becomes an alchemic process aimed at turning the ordinary into "art" which is second only to turning used cooking oil into fuel to run your car, and maybe third to turning lead into gold.

Trying to remember is a form of forgetting. Memory fades, changes meaning, and disappears over time. While trying to find other ways to preserve stories about my family, it occurred to me that I could recreate what I remember in clay. I am creating collections of physical mementos of the memories that fill my head, focusing mainly on my childhood. Remembering is in itself an act of forgetting, and thus this is my memory preservation kit. I am recording memories of my family for posterity in clay before I have a chance to forget.

Retired Objects is a project that explores the intimate relationship we humans form with everyday things. My investigation centers around the questions Can we begin to value objects as our equals, rather than as our servants? and What roles do objects play in our daily lives other than fulfilling a practical function?  As a theoretical framework I investigate different facets of our material culture and how we relate to objects, focusing on our emotional connection to them, how we use them as mirror and tools for self-creation, and how being a maker is an integral part of our human identity. Using speculative design methods, I wish to invite us to reimagine our relationship to objects. The result is a series of pre-owned chairs, that I have re-designed, reimagined to envision them in a new light, free from the burden of fulfilling a practical function. Who are they once they retire from their job of serving us? By using design fiction and presenting an alternative narrative I wish to invite us to reimagine the way we relate to everyday objects.

This critical design project showcases obstacles that the Qatari culture and society impose on their female youth, hindering them from becoming independent individuals. It critiques the society and its social pressures. The project stimulates people to think by challenging their assumptions and perceptions, specifically social perception and judgment, family authority, and gender favoritism. This is achieved through hybridized accessories that are embedded with a meta-meaning that arouses curiosity, invites questions, and stimulates thoughts. Through the design of these appealing, high quality, and functionally viable everyday accessories, the project aims to communicate the social and cultural forces which impede Qatari female youths’ becoming individuals who dream, achieve, and thrive.

Cette recherche étudie le premier âge de l’aluminium, quand ce métal était rare et semi-précieux, au XIXe siècle. Le chimiste français Henri Sainte-Claire Deville l’obtient pur en 1854. Aboutissent ainsi les travaux de scientifiques européens sur la décomposition des terres visant à extraire l’aluminium de son oxyde. H. Deville se lance ensuite dans la production industrielle de ce métal et, en 1860, un équilibre est trouvé : le métal est produit à Salindres, par Henry Merle et Cie (future Pechiney), puis transformé et commercialisé à Nanterre, par Paul Morin et Cie et son successeur, la Société anonyme de l’aluminium. Durant 35 ans, ce métal est exclusivement produit par le procédé chimique de H. Deville. Les concurrences sont rares et éphémères jusqu’aux années 1880, quand sont mis au point les procédés électrolytiques qui condamnent le procédé de Deville.Le principal défi des pionniers est de trouver à l’aluminium une place parmi les matériaux. Sa production est faible, ses applications limitées (instruments scientifiques, orfèvrerie, etc.), et pourtant le métal suscite l’intérêt et des concurrences se font jour : l’innovation est au cœur de cette première industrie de l’aluminium. Le centre de cette nouvelle activité chimique n’est paradoxalement pas l’aluminium, mais son oxyde, l’alumine, indispensable à l’obtention du métal à partir de la terre.Au final, cette thèse vise à comprendre comment un nouveau métal intègre la société, ses us et coutumes (science, industrie, usages, imaginaire collectif). / This study analyses the first age of aluminium, when this metal was rare and semi-precious, during the 19th Century. The French chemist Henri Sainte-Claire Deville obtained it pure in 1854. So ended the works of European Scientists on the decomposition of the earths, aiming for the extraction of aluminium from its oxide. Over the following years, H. Deville launched himself in the industrial production of this metal and, in 1860, a balance was found: the metal was produced in Salindres, by Henry Merle et Cie (future Pechiney), then fabricated and commercialised in Nanterre, by Paul Morin et Cie and its successor, the Société anonyme de l’aluminium. During 35 years, this metal was exclusively produced by the Deville’s chemical process. Rivalries were rare and short-lived until the 1880’s, when the development of electrolytical processes overthrew Deville’s process.The main challenge of the pioneers was to give aluminium a place among other materials. Its production rate was low and its uses, limited (scientific instruments, “aluminiumsmithery”, etc.). However, the metal aroused interest and competition appeared. Innovation was at the core of this first aluminium industry. Paradoxaly, the new chemical activity was not based on aluminium but on its oxide, alumina, which is indispensable for the production of metal from the earth. This thesis aims to understand how a new metal had taken place in the society, in its habits and customs (science, industry, uses, collective imagination).