DUBAI: Deem Alhagbani, co-founder of the Saudi design studio Shaddah Studio, discusses their AlUla Design Award-winning piece, created in response to a brief that asked for ‘cultural retail’ objects inspired by “the heritage, landscape and artistic legacies of AlUla.” We’d already heard of the AlUla Design Award from last year. We actually visited AlUla at the beginning of the year and since then we’d been thinking about what — if we got the chance — would be a suitable product for the award; something to help you reflect on the experience of being in that place. So when we got the email from Arts AlUla, we already had this folding chair in mind. To be honest, we’d never have had this idea if we hadn’t visited AlUla itself and seen the different textures and colors and geographic elements there. And the atmosphere, of course — the different feelings of day and night. Actually being there is definitely different from seeing pictures. It’s a feeling; it’s an energy. Going through the valleys and the mountains, or simply when it turns dark and you see the stars shining; it’s very magical. Anyone who goes to AlUla will tell you the same. It’s all about the location; walking through the mountains gives you this energy. So “Tawa” is a chair-rug combo. It folds so you can carry it around with you throughout your adventures. And it unfolds from the seat area and becomes a rug, so you can use that to meditate, or pray, throughout the different textures of AlUla. It’s not an everyday item. It’s a luxury item, with sleek lines and a nice hand-woven rug. There’s a couple of layers to the chair. We feel like it reflects AlUla with the function itself. It’s portable, it’s very lightweight. Also, the woven rug is inspired by old AlUla; if you look at it from above, we’ve used these squares from the old houses in AlUla. We took a pattern from traditional Sadu weaving and made it more contemporary; black-and-white, more for this generation. The structure itself is very simple. What makes it different is the weave. The rug has two layers: The bottom layer is jute, so it’s waterproof and you can put it anywhere. And what makes the woven part unique is that it’s handmade by local artisans. We thought that would give it more depth, and this is how we give back to the community.