That must have taken a lot of patience.

Those were the words that instinctively spilled out of my mouth after having seen Hanin’s shortlisted piece for the first time.  With cone-shaped legs and bulky tops, her ‘little wooden creatures’ charmed the judges and public alike, winning first place in the Design category [with a whopping AED 50,000 cash prize] at the Sheikha Manal Young Artist’s Award Ceremony.

Hanin Hazeem, whose cheerful chatter can prod up the spirits of the most miserable beings in the room, talks about her work with a warm yet focused intent. “Attractive designs usually challenge the definite facts. ‘Little wooden creatures’ design challenges gravity, visual weight, and mechanical fasteners.” This tinge of rebellion is apparent in her passionate tone as the AUS Design student explained her work to us.

 

“This design piece was made of pure mahogany wood. The cone like shapes of the legs of these tables creates a visual tension yet an anti-gravity feeling. The top is bulky and massive when the legs are gradually slimming out until they touch the ground. The legs are also located to be flush with the top, yet in extraordinary places. This creates a futuristic look but the tables are still stable and load bearing according to some physics rules of tension points.”

Hanin put up a fist fight with design rules and visual weight, preserving her patience through it all. She explains “No mechanical fasteners, glue, or screws were used in this design. Only biscuit joints were used to fix the legs to the top in an elegant and continuous way. ‘Little wooden creatures’ is a modular design which explains the existence of the groves around the top and the indented placement of the legs. It’s like a furniture puzzle.”

What delighted us at B-Change was the harmony of patience and zest shown by Hanin, tirelessly crafting a design well before its time while using an age-old material – mahogany wood.