Date waste furniture and fish scale lamps among Dubai Design Week’s exhibits

In Dubai, design consortium/incubator and registered “FabLab” Tashkeel showcased furniture made from date waste and a floor lamp made from fish scales at Dubai Design Week.

The exhibit is part of Tashkeel’s Taween program, which selects emerging designers from the United Arab Emirates. This year’s group focused on novel materials.

Designs included a table made from “datecrete,” a material conceived by Abu Farha and Shalka using crushed dates, a waste material available locally.

A lamp employing fish scales sourced from the waste of Ajman Fish Market was also on display, as was a ceiling-mounted LED light made from kombucha leather designer Shaza Khahlil calls “SKin.”

“The bacteria protect its culture from external microorganisms by weaving a cellulose biofilm that floats on top, which is almost like skin,” Khahlil tells design publication Dezeen. “SKin came about during careful observation of the properties and behavior of the material. When the biofilm is left under the sun to dry, it curls and folds in a unique way each time, similarly to a leaf. Hence the shape and the structure of the light fixture were derived from a dry plumeria leaf, also known as frangipani.”

Dubai Design Week ran November 8-13.