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Day 1 - 19 September 2026

Day 2 - 26 September 2026

Studio Seminars

This two-day studio seminar invites participants into the world of paper pulp as a medium for making, memory, and storytelling. At its center is a single object: the dinner set, a collection of vessels that carries personal significance beyond its form.

Working with paper pulp as their primary material, participants move through the full arc of designing and making a dinner vessel of their own. The process begins not with materials but with meaning: through guided prompts, each participant identifies the personal thread that will run through their set, and the memory, place, or person they want their objects to hold.

On Day 1, Maha and Nagham introduce paper pulp, allowing participants to explore how it behaves before building it into a dough and molding it into vessels shaped in response to the narratives they have developed. 

On Day 2 participants unmold their dried pieces and move into printing, patterning, and adding texture, deepening the personal story running through each object. The session closes with Composing the Table where participants arrange their completed sets together on a shared surface, seeing their work whole for the first time alongside the pieces of others.

Participants leave, children and adults alike, with a personally authored dinner set, each piece shaped by a specific memory or story that gives it meaning beyond its form.

Accessibility & Participation

Open to ages 11+ 

Fee: 60 AED

About the Instructor

Maha Arafat is a multidisciplinary artist and designer whose practice explores storytelling through illustration, motion design, interactivity, and hands-on making. Her work is driven by a curiosity for how ideas can take shape through both digital and physical processes, often using material experimentation as a way to discover unexpected forms, textures, and meanings. She is particularly interested in creating layered experiences that invite viewers to engage, search, and interpret, shifting them from passive observers into active participants. Through drawing, movement, tactility, and making by hand, her practice focuses on shaping meaningful experiences that spark curiosity, connection, and deeper engagement.

Nagham Elbaz is a Visual Communication graduate from the American University of Sharjah. Her practice is rooted in storytelling, material exploration, and cultural reflection. She sees design as a powerful tool for dialogue—one that allows her to connect with others, question norms, and give form to complex

emotions and histories. Her work often bridges analog

experimentation with conceptual depth, whether through bilingual type, paper-based installations, or tactile materials. She’s especially drawn to themes of memory, resilience, and identity, with a focus on Arab cultural narratives. Through processes that embrace uncertainty and imperfection, she creates work that invites reflection, conversation, and emotional resonance. She seeks to challenge the boundaries of design by treating it not only as a discipline but as a medium of connection, healing, and discovery.