Pakistani designers showcase utopian playground in London

Pakistani designer Salman Jawed and his team are making Pakistan proud by showcasing for the first time Pakistan’s traditional games through fine art printing at the prestigious design festival at the Somrset House.  

The London Design Biennale, being held at Somerset House from 7-27 September, aims to address big ideas about sustainability, migration, cities, and social equality. By displaying innovative and interactive installations and artworks, design teams from around the world are looking to stretch the limits of human imagination through an inspiring approach to design.

Karachi-based Coalesce Design Studio is presenting newly commissioned works that explore the exhibition’s theme ‘Utopia by Design’ — marking the 500th anniversary of Sir Thomas More’s book — through a classic concoction of nostalgia and tradition.

Coalesce Design Studio’s installation ‘Daalaan’ is an abstract playground where visitors are invited to revisit the utopian worlds they create as children. The installation comprises a series of fabrics with illustrations of traditional games hanging from the ceiling and seats below resembling spinning tops. The idea is to motivate strangers to rediscover the child in them; as they sit and spin and gaze up at the illustrations, they would drop their guard and travel back to a time when they were uninhibited by adult anxieties. The design team hopes that the installation would bring strangers together to discuss ideas with open minds without pre-conceived notions, just like they did when they were kids. As the studio puts it, the sheesham wood objects, spinning tops, hand-drawn art and illustrations make for a playground where “imagination has no bounds”.