Mexico City: Years of Culture’s Crafting Design Futures residency, developed by Design Doha as part of the Qatar, Canada and Mexico 2026 Year of Culture, joined Design Week Mexico’s Visión y Tradición programme, bringing four designers from Qatar and the wider Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region into collaboration with Mexican master artisans.
Open at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City from October 8 to November 1, 2026, Visión y Tradición forms part of Design Week Mexico 2026 (DWM26), developed this year around the theme “Perspectives from the Global South.”
The programme brings together international designers with Mexican creators, placing exchange, shared making and different forms of creative knowledge at the centre of the exhibition.
Through Crafting Design Futures, four collaborations explored glass engraving, clay, ceramics and hand-hammered copper. Syrian designer Kenan Alkuwatly worked with master engraver José Cruz; Lebanese designer and multidisciplinary artist Shirine Sbaiti with ceramic artisans Norberto y Rosi; Qatar-based Iranian designer Yasamin Shaikhi with Estudio Guerrero; and British-Indian architect and designer Armaan Bansal with Alan Pureco’s family workshop.
The residency encouraged each pair to develop the work together. Initial ideas changed through the process of making as designers encountered techniques, materials and knowledge built through years, and in some cases generations, of practice. The resulting objects reflect not only the designers’ original concepts, but the creative contribution of the artisans and the conversations between them.
Director of Design Doha Fahad Al Obaidly said: “One of the most important lessons of Crafting Design Futures is that craft is not simply a means of producing a designer’s idea. It is knowledge in its own right. We ask our designers to enter these workshops ready to listen and to allow the artisan’s experience to change their thinking and ultimately the object itself. That requires time, which is perhaps one of the greatest luxuries we have today. In a world where design is increasingly shaped by digital tools and speed, working directly with materials and with people who have spent decades understanding them gives designers a very different perspective on value, authorship and collaboration. It also teaches a more responsible way of working with craft communities by building something together.”
This approach is reflected across several Years of Culture programmes taking place in Doha this fall, marking a key moment in the Qatar, Canada and Mexico 2026 Year of Culture.
The programme highlights a shared interest in how traditional knowledge can inform contemporary creative practice, particularly as Qatar continues to invest in preserving its own heritage while developing its creative and design sectors.
