What’s it really like to be a design star?

One of the region’s most path-breaking and forward-thinking designers, Ammar Kalo, the UAE-based architect, designer and educator of Syrian heritage, is reimagining the global perception of the ‘Made in UAE’ label.

Winner of the Silver A‘Design Award at the 2015 Milan Design Week, Kalo, who is known for employing advanced digital technology to explore new material processes, leapt into the global spotlight with his masterpiece of a chair, the Stratum.

“At the time, I was learning how to programme and run a five-axis CNC milling machine, which is a computer-controlled carving machine that can carve at multiple angles,” says the designer. “Somewhere along the process, I wanted to explore a unique type of joint that could be milled on that machine and I started studying how they make traditional religious book stands, usually out of two solid interlocking pieces of wood.”

The process allowed Kalo the space to refine a formal design language he had been toying with for a while — one that tipped the hat to tradition and yet was a result of his explorations into digitally aided design that utilise the intricate relation between man, material and machine. Once he settled on a final form of the chair, he started programming the machine to mill the final pieces.

“I think it’s extremely important to know with exactitude how everything about a certain piece of design will coalesce into a final product,” says the designer. “During the design stage I would be already formulating a solid idea about how I’m going to fabricate each piece. Knowing the fabrication process beforehand is absolutely crucial as it always informs the design itself greatly and makes certain technical and design decisions much better.” It is the same eye for detail that he hopes he imparts to his students at the American University of Sharjah, where he serves as the director of CAAD Labs.

The designer who received his undergraduate education in Architecture at the American University of Sharjah, graduated in 2008 and then a Master of Science in Architecture at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan in 2014 — returned to his Alma Mater with a vision to enthuse a new generation of designers.

“At the University of Michigan, I met many academics and researchers that introduced me to a wide range of fields I wasn’t aware of before, but at a certain level design education is very similar anywhere you go in the world,” he says.

Design in the UAE

The key difference between design education in the region and abroad is down to the topics different schools tend to focus on based on regional influences and global trends. “Since the UAE has a strong culture of traditional values and is also a melting pot of multiple ethnicities, it’s a rich ground for cultural exchange. Design in this region [has] the possibility of manifesting itself in many diverse ways.”

Besides his role as an educator and furniture designer, Kalo has been immersed in a research project that involves using industrial robotic arms to form flat sheets of metal into complex three-dimensional geometry. Much as the process has demanded great precision and dedication from him, it has been immensely rewarding. He has already produced a few design pieces using his latest exploration into digitised making of furniture and now his sights are set on the bigger picture. “The main agenda is to utilise the process as a prototyping method for highly variable, low-cost custom metal facade panels. As an architect by profession, I can see the relevance of such a technology and study how it can be applied at larger scales.”

A full plate

Kalo, who beat some of the region’s most promising design stars to win the emerging designer award at the Harper’s Bazaar Interiors Design Awards 2015, has been inundated with requests for commissioned furniture pieces. In addition, with two academic research projects and an upcoming showcase at Design Days Dubai in March, his plate is full.

The critical issue that impedes great design is visibility and having the space, both physically and mentally, to continue developing new design ideas. “I see a shift in progress,” says Kalo of the regional design community. “With the increase in number of prestigious design competitions and scholarships in the region, it’s becoming much more accessible for young designers to seek opportunities and get exposed to the fresh design scene,” he says. Add to that the UAe government’s mandate to nurture creativity through dedicated projects like the Dubai Design District and Dubai Design and Fashion Council laying the foundations of sustainable growth of the creative sector, the region holds immense promise for design lovers, design students and design professionals alike.

— Pratyush Sarup is design manager at one of the UAE’s premium interiors firms.