Villa Hegra celebrates a year of cultural exchange in the heart of AlUla 

DUBAI: Within the remains of Carthage, the great city founded by the Phoenicians in the 9th century BC – close to the capital of Tunis, Tunis – are several objects of elegant contemporary design. Their newly built decorations are in stark contrast yet complementary to the ancient ruins.

Vibrantly colored woolen rugs by Medellin-based American designer Chris Wollstone and Tunisian artisans Le Kef are lovingly placed over the remains of ancient Roman columns.

In addition, the curved lines of the new and beautiful furniture made of palm wood by Studio Manda, the Lebanese designer Georges Mosheb's company, made by the Tunisian craftsman, Qais Gharb. These can be found nearby, also nestled among ancient ruins and statues.

The works are part of the inaugural show “Carthagisme” curated by Milan-based curator Nicolas Bellvance-Lecompte for Lamia Bousnina Gallery.

This is a space that opened at the end of May in downtown Tunis and is dedicated to showcasing art and design with a focus on supporting the country's handicrafts.

“In a country where tradition is intertwined with Mediterranean cultural influences, the exhibition celebrates Tunisia's artistic heritage while embracing the dynamism of contemporary creative expression,” Blouance-Lecompte said in her curatorial statement.

“We want to celebrate our Tunisian heritage,” Lamia Bosnina Ben Eid, founder of the eponymous space, told Arab News. Now design has become more important in Tunisia. We want to champion design objects made in Tunisia. I have always wanted to build bridges and connections with designers from around the world.

The exhibition, which runs until September 29, features specially commissioned pieces by six international designers.

They include Elias and Youssef Anastas from Palestine, French multidisciplinary designer Louis Barthelemy, Beirut-based accountant Mary Lynn Massoud and Georges Hashab, also from Beirut, and American Wollstone, currently based in Medellin, Colombia.

The works have been temporarily placed among the ruins of Carthage for a preview of the exhibition and will later be moved to the gallery – a sleek new white-walled, high-ceilinged venue in the city centre.

To create each project, designers are paired with local Tunisian artisans.

Tunisia has long been home to a vibrant community of artisans. According to data from the Oxford Business Group, the country has about 350,000 artisans, mostly women, working mainly in marginalized communities where they contribute to the local economy.

These new pieces, to support Tunisian industry, form a dialogue with local industry to create new breathtaking works of contemporary design and aim to start a micro-economy in Tunisia.

“The group exhibition is a manifesto that celebrates Tunisian culture, reviving and interpreting traditional craft practices,” said Blouance-Lecompte.

The accountant joined hands to produce furniture from palm wood – a material that is very difficult to work with due to its irregular fibers and hard texture.

“The whole process was very exciting,” said Mosheb, who regularly works with wood but had never worked with palm before.

Mosheb said Gharbiah is located eight hours away from Tunis in the southwestern region of Tunisia, where the largest palm trees grow. “It was a challenge for all of us, but we were up for it.”

He added: While these parts are very simple in terms of form, their construction is challenging in terms of connection and assembly. “(Artisans) wanted to learn and explore, and they were open to doing something different than what they had been doing for years.”

The bookshelf, long bench, table and chair were placed together in a “genuine and humble” way, said the accountant.

Palestinian brothers Elias and Youssef created a series of stone tables whose irregular shapes were created from computer modeling.

These pieces, which feature irregular pieces joined together without any glue or cement, are an extension of their “Stone Materials” project, which explores the primacy of stone in Palestinian architecture. The resulting tables were made in the gallery with local Tunisian craftsman MDO.

Beirut-based Lebanese designer Massoud collaborated with local Tunisian ceramist Ali Kader to create ceramic pieces titled “Early Echoes” that honor and support the traditions of the Gafsa region of Tunisia.

The goal was to create a ceramic floor and table lamps and side tables with different renderings that reflect the color and texture of the palm wood pieces. What is remarkable is how his works have references to Tunisian tribal ceramics.

On the other hand, Wollstone created 10 attractive rugs in colorful colors with a variety of geometric patterns. To produce each one, Wollstone worked with 10 weavers from the Le Kef region in northwestern Tunisia, who based their designs on drawings she created.

Also made in various textiles is “Hannon and the Mediterranean mirage”, a tapestry by French designer Louis Bartholomew with the Tunisian Najib Bel Haj that strongly unites the ancient history of Tunisia with modern stories from the Mediterranean.

The vibrantly colored tapestry features a mix of figurative and abstract imagery, including a depiction of the sixth-century BC Carthaginian explorer Hannon.

It mentions his travels around the Mediterranean Sea as well as the bright orange life jackets that reflect the difficulty of North African migrants crossing the Mediterranean in the hope of a new life.

The tapestry, like the works created especially with the theme of “Carthagisme”, poignantly unites tradition, ancient history and the present in the fabric of Tunisian heritage.