Design students continue “Accessory design project” remotely

Birzeit University’s first-year design students completed an accessory design project using creative, unconventional and recyclable materials. The project was part of the “Design Foundation Studio 02” course, an introduction to design with an emphasis on graphic design and its applications.

Overcoming the disruption caused by the pandemic and adapting to the switch to remote education, the students successfully transited from designing in the workrooms of the Faculty of Art, Music and Design to working at their homes. They continued their projects using upcycled and used materials, including paper, wires, plastics, brass, spices with odor, fabrics, threads, shells, beads and wood, building their projects after research and material experimentations.

Course instructors Dima Srouji and Basel Nasr described the experience of remote designing as challenging. Nevertheless, they praised the impressive results. Srouji said, “despite the obstacles, the students took the challenge extremely well. Their creativity with this accessories project blossomed during this period. Their use of objects they had found in their homes and their ability to transform these into designed artifacts were quite impressive.”

Nasr explained the idea of the accessory project as focusing on both “the use of materials in design and the design process itself. Due to the lockdown, students faced the challenge of finding untraditional materials from their local environment, running various experiments on these materials, and then composing and crafting an accessory piece using them.”