Bokja at Dubai Design Week

Our capacity for creative thinking is infinite, they say, and it’s true if this year’s Dubai Design Week’s creatives were anything to go by! 

Strolling around the event, your eye constantly caught glimpses of incredible installations created with materials designed to spur conversations along this year’s theme of ‘Design with Impact’. Amongst them, was Bokja’s “Let’s Talk About the Weather”; a strikingly fabricated piece of art and an interactive installation.

Bokja’s installation was an out-of-the-box experience (pun intended), and we’re here to introduce you to this captivating brand, and their unique installation.

Bokja merges traditional craftsmanship with story-telling into wearable designs and furniture. Their now-famous signature is to collect and assemble textile fragments, melding them into poetic arrangements to narrate a story through fabric alone. Once you’ve seen one, every Bokja design will stand out from the crowd, each unique patchwork-esque piece a burst of quirky, stylish fun that’s definitively theirs. Their recent installation at Dubai Design Week was no different!

This year the textiles-driven studio offered up a contemplative installation. “Let’s Talk About the Weather” encompassed what the brand is all about; a merger of craftsmanship, sustainability and storytelling. Evoking emotions, raising questions and exemplifying the global issues we face today, Bokja is always exploring the limitless possibilities for using and manipulating fabric. 

In the central piece, a boxing ring encircled a punching bag, which was adorned with embroideries of the “Three Monkeys”, the universally-recognized symbols of “See no evil, Hear no evil, Do no evil.” The piece served to remind us of a harsh reality, that we often fail to open our eyes and ears to injustices done to other humans, species, and the earth at large. 

The installation invited the audience to get into the “ring of life” to address issues we face today, be they universal or personal. There was a simple question to answer: “What anguish drives your anger?” Participants were given strips of ribbon on which to write down their responses that were then tied onto the punching bag to highlight human pain. It was a beautiful way to eternalize their narratives through art.

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