Italian Design Day gives a taste of ancient Rome to Jeddawis
JEDDAH: Italian furniture has a worldwide appeal that is perhaps one of the most popular and enduring designs among collectors and casual buyers. Italy’s furniture makers since the 15th century have been influenced by the architecture of ancient Rome and the result is timeless styling.
In collaboration with the Italian Business Group and Distretto Design, Italian Design Day comes to Saudi Arabia for the first time on Sunday to showcase Italian-made products under the umbrella of the Italian Consulate General and Jeddah’s Chamber of Commerce.
Italian Design Day is sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, La Triennale and Salone del Mobile di Milano.
The Italian ambassador in Riyadh will participate in workshops during the event.
The special guest of Italian Design Day is the dean of the Design Institute of Urbino, Professor Leonardo Romei, who will be the event’s ambassador of Italian Design.
Romei will address communication and design. He will give a theoretical approach to promote and encourage the collaboration among universities in terms of student exchange, according to Italian Consul General Elisabetta Martini.
At least 11 Italian Interior Design brands will exhibit some of their most iconic pieces shipped from Italy to Saudi Arabia for the occasion.
“Our brands are already made in Italy, but we want to support and promote them in a country like Saudi Arabia,” Martini said. “It is not that easy to each a big audience.”
“We are putting together different businesses, different styles and ways of life,” said Bashar Jabban, president of Italian Business Group.
Italian high- quality products are aimed to attract Saudi buyers with sophisticated high aesthetic standards. The Saudi market is a significant market and one of the biggest markets in the Middle East, according to company representatives of B& B, Slamp and Italprogram Plus.
RIYADH: Saudi women from adventurers to inventors aimed to highlight their changing roles and inspire younger women to push for new opportunities at a oneday conference entitled “Saudi Women Can,” organized by the Alwaleed Philanthropies on Saturday in Riyadh
Princess Lamia bint Majed Al-Saud, secretary general of Alwaleed Philanthropies, said: “The conference was part of a campaign to draw attention to their achievements and inspire the next generation.”
“I want to give the younger generation role models to show them that, no matter what obstacles, there are opportunities and give them stories to inspire them,” Princess Lamia told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, which is partnering with the charity to provide training for Saudi journalists on women’s issues.
Fawzia Al-Harbi, a member of the Training Authority, and director of public relations and media at the girls’ branch of the Technical and Vocational Training Corp. (TVTC), emphasized the importance of Saudi female empowerment for the development of the Kingdom at an international conference on development in Turkey.
Raha Moharrak, 31, who made history in 2013 as the first Saudi woman to climb Mount Everest, said girls in Saudi Arabia must be taught that they are not less than boys.
“My journey started as a mini-rebellion — I wanted to shock my parents,” said Moharrak, who was determined to do something different after studying abroad and won her reluctant father over by explaining why climbing was important to her.
“In our culture we are taught to be quiet, taught that being bold is ugly, that being different is discouraged. I think that bold is beautiful, that being different is unique.”
Other speakers included Hadeel Ayoub, who invented a smart glove that converts sign language to text, and writer Kawthar Al-Arbash, whose son was killed in 2015 trying to stop an Islamic State suicide bomber.
Speaker Eqbal Darandari, associate professor at King Saud University who was elected to the Shoura Council in 2016, said it was important women learn responsibility and leadership.
“We need to teach females to be stronger — to make change, to work on their own,” said Darandari, adding the biggest progress would come if women were given decision-making roles.
“We are achieving things but not as fast as we would like. But this is a problem not from the top but from down, from the people, as what is needed is social change and that is slow.”
Saudi Arabia is ranked 141 of 144 countries in the Global Gender Gap, a World Economic Forum study on how women fare in economic and political participation, health and education.
Moharrak, a graphic designer, said women need to get the support of their fathers and brothers for real change to happen.
“All the women who have managed to achieve independence have two things in common: a rebellious heart and an understanding father. We do not grow up with an easy path but no one wants to be disowned or disrespect their father,” she said.