Category: Design

Mo is a 22 year old Kuwaiti student currently studying at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. When I first saw some of his illustrations they instantly grabbed my attention since I found them very strange. I contacted him by email and spoke to him regarding his thoughts and future plans.

According to Mo his illustrations come from the core of his personality, it’s who he truly is without the filters of ego and peer pressures. He’s also excited about coming back to Kuwait after he graduates since he feels there is a lot of potential now more than ever for Kuwait to generate culture on its own.

A lot of culture in Kuwait is homogenized, it comes from the West for the most part. There is the traditional Kuwaiti culture, but that is really just a backdrop being humored for the popular culture, the influx of movies and other entertainment is where the interest of younger and even older generations truly lie. People today have the wonderful luxury of taking in media from around the world, and I think some of the talented and passionate people in Kuwait today are digesting influences from both Western and Eastern creators into their subconscious minds. Something that has popped up in the GCC area has been the advent of interesting and funny animated programs, not to mention the lauded 99 comic book series. I believe that I can help contribute to this newly generating culture, and offer something different than the humor of the animated series and the super-hero stories of the 99.

He’s got a bunch of his illustrations up on his blog which you can check by clicking [Here]

Going by the trailer it looks like a pretty interesting and well made documentary. Makes me look at Saudi Arabia in a completely different light. [YouTube]

Thanks Nocolor

This new school is designed to promote experimental teaching, to branch away from the rote memorization model of learning that ensures that most Kuwaitis have zero knowledge of their agricultural history. To implement a more hands on approach, the designer created plenty of outdoor space at grade and even on the school’s roof.

An interesting project designed by Perkins + Will but like all the other cool projects popping up I hope this one gets built as well. Note the sheep on the roof. [Link]

A presentation of the new Kuwait Airport by Foster+Partners. [YouTube]

Update: I’ve updated the video link to a working one.

I hope this actually gets built. Find out more about this project [Here]

I promise this will be my last basketball post. Turns out the Kuwait Club’s basketball team’s uniform is ripped off from NBA’s Washington’s Wizards. How funny and sad is that? It even made it to the Washington Post! [Link]

Thanks Walker

kuwait tv – fillers presentation from infofillers© on Vimeo.

Looks good but if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?

I hope so. [Link]

Update: Wow never mind, turns out this is actually their Bida’a branch.

Prime Cuts revamped their website recently and I think it looks a lot better than their older one. In case you didn’t know, they’re a supplier of various gourmet products with their main focus on high quality beef cuts from around the world. They have a physical store in Salmiya which I have yet to check out but you can order from their website and they’ll deliver. Here is the [Link]

Booze Boozz I guess is a new wannabee alcohol but not alcohol drink which is odd in itself but whats even more odd is the striking resemblance to its main competitor, Freez.

Thanks MAR

A friend of mine here in Kuwait got the Wacom Inkling and has some samples up. If you don’t know what the inkling is, it’s basically a small device you attach to your notebook and whatever you draw in your sketch book or on paper will be transferred as a digital drawing to your computer.

According to him “it’s good for fast sketching but not good enough for tight detail doodling”. He has two examples which explain his comments which you can check out. You’ll notice some of the digital lines are not in the same place as the original drawings as well as some details missing. Check out the two samples [Here] and [Here]

The Inkling isn’t available on Amazon yet. He had a friend in Hong Kong purchase it for him and ship it to his Aramex China mailbox.

Thanks Pinot

I never considered New York beautiful until today. After visiting the meat packing district I decided to walk along the High Line which is a former elevated railroad track that was converted into a park in the sky. Not only is it a very cool concept but the execution of the High Line is extremely tasteful and stylish. Below are some pictures I took with my iPhone.

Before on top, now on the bottom. Other than the clutter I think the biggest change is the lack of natural daylight inside the airport.

Here is a link to a previous comparison. [Link]

via Thorsten

The Tamdeen Group’s headquarters is featured in this months issue of Middle East Interiors. I just read the article on their website and thought it was great that companies today appreciate and spend on good design but for some odd reason the article online features tiny thumbnails. So although the office sounds great you can’t really see all the goodness.

Maybe someone from Tamdeen can email me some larger photos (and more photos if available) so I could post them here? Check out the article [Here]

via

Update: Here is a link with around 20 pictures including the ones above in a larger size [Link]

A new burger place opened up in Lebanon and their logo looks pretty familiar.