Create Icons. Build Marvels competition winners announced

Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, 06 Jul 2017 – RAK Ceramics PJSC, one of the largest ceramics’ brands in the world, today announced the winners for its tile design competition ‘Create Icons. Build Marvels’. The competition was run in partnership with the School of Architecture, Art and Design at The American University in Dubai. Students were asked to design a collection of porcelain tiles for RAK Ceramics, inspired by a fusion of Mediterranean and Arabian influences, to furnish contemporary styled interiors.

‘Bonds of Boundaries’ was the winning project by Salwa Hasan. Designed beyond the gridlines of boundaries, her design statement was inspired by biomorphic art, patterns representing the underlying order and the unity of nature; they are evident throughout the artwork of various cultures within the Arab world from Morocco to Yemen. Movement, harmony, rhythm and balance were the keys to her success. Second place was presented to Nadine Kassab for her design ‘Abjad’ and joint third place was presented to Laurdy El Ghorayeb for ‘Salty Crystals’ and Dana Rabat for ‘Reef’.

Mr Abdallah Massaad, Group CEO, RAK Ceramics said: “I would like to congratulate the winners of our tile design competition. It is important to us at RAK Ceramics that we are able to encourage and empower the next generation of designers, and as an industry expert we believe in nurturing, supporting and celebrating talent. We hope the students found the design competition beneficial and look forward to continuing to develop this partnership in the future.”

The winning design by Salwa Hasan will be on display in the new RAK Ceramics showroom, included in the RAK Ceramics annex collection and will also be featured in a brochure along with the name of the student, giving them some excellent exposure.

Mr Chadi El Tabbah, associate professor of interior design led the project and said “Create Icons. Build Marvels” was run as a competition in partnership with RAK Ceramics and it has challenged our students to balance creativity with practical applications. The end result was a process which involved intense research, statements, and a lot of passion culminating in a collection of distinctive designs. During this journey, each student was a unique individual, they all learned how to be sensitive to how people experience visuals and graphics and to recognise the emotional connection people have to their surroundings.

The project capitalised on some of the key strengths of AUD’s internationally recognised ID programme: having a foot in the future, sensitivity to the human factor in design, integration of the techniques, and the need for differentiation through relevant distinctiveness. The students’ ability to analyse, conceive and express was challenged to the maximum, and their design education was furthered significantly by exposure to working with RAK Ceramics.”