Curator Waleed Shaalan, second to the right, briefing visiting media at the Kuwait pavilion with designers Osama Hadeed, Liane Al-Ghusain and Abdulaziz Al-Kandary. Curator Waleed Shaalan, second to the right, briefing visiting media at the Kuwait pavilion with designers Osama Hadeed, Liane Al-Ghusain and Abdulaziz Al-Kandary.

Kuwait recently took part in the Dubai Design Week expo - showcasing Kuwait's creativity and design talent through one of the Abwab Pavilions. The pavilion, a unique creative concept created with an exterior made from the abundance of Middle Eastern sand which served as natural mushrabia (veil) aimed to highlight traditions of play and culture in the region.

Kuwait Times interviewed architect Waleed Shalaan, lead curator from Kuwait pavilion about the theme, the importance of children's play and design and creativity in Kuwait.

The games children played

KT: How did you guys come up with the idea for the theme of children's games in Kuwait?

Shaalan: The organizer for the Dubai Design Week introduced to us the 'Abwab pavilion' for this particular expo. The pavilions were especially dedicated to traditional games for children of countries such as Kuwait; so as participants we decided to take a look at the traditional games children in Kuwait used to play. Many of our old games were undocumented so from the start it was a challenge to come up with specific games and showcase them.

We used pictograms to demonstrate traditional Kuwaiti children's games. It's interesting to watch kids play, they're creative and they always want to innovate; those games which we showcased here are now obsolete in the presence of computer games and gadgets. Those old games were not preserved although they are not completely forgotten.

But we want to revive those games. Maybe to come up with a collection of old games and put it together as one book.

KT: Can you give more details on the games?

Shaalan: Most games for girls had something to do with the house. For example, preparing tea, coffee or socializing and most of the games related to girls are played indoors. You know, girls were allowed to play but in limited space since they are protected by their male counterparts. Female games are usually less physical but they were more into socializing and preparing food.

Boys. on other hand, were free to go anywhere. They even had games like 'hide and seek under the shadow of the moon', since for many months they could not play during the day because of the terrible heat. For example, the games that are very famous before for boys were hiding bones in the sands; and kids would have to find them. The skills of finding something is developed in this game; the mind and the physical activities are used so a person who will spot the hidden bones must run to the home base and be declared the winner.

From play to life

KT: What are the main games and how did you translate them into 'design' elements?

Shaalan: We have types of games we called 'tagga ib tagga' (move by move). When you start to play with an opponent, you have to use mental abilities. In this game you have to draw six dots, and the opponents challenges you to connect the specific dots without crossing the lines. If you managed to do it you are the winner. So it's a mental skills game. There is also a famous game 'tying and untying knots'. It strengthened your skills in problem solving capabilities. Another one is holding your breath while under water. The longer you hold your breath, the better and you should be the winner. No one really plays these games any more, they are mostly from the pearl diving era and they were essential games at that time. There are many games connected to pearl diving, and many of the physical games were important for survival.

If you notice games children play in recent years, they are all computer-based games, not physical. The problem is we tend to focus in when we play physical games. For instance, football. You forget that you are running while you are playing and that is very good for the body. On the treadmill, you know you are running. Many games of the past were related to pearl diving because that was our source of revenue and our forefathers before had to survive and so even when they were still kids, our games were mostly related to pearl diving. Sadly, they are gone now.

KT: How do you see this connecting with the renaissance in design/creativity/entrepreneurship happening in Kuwait now?

Shaalan: Games used to be a way for children to rehearse for life. For example, if you see animals, young lions are rehearsing in preparation for adulthood: attacking, hunting, chasing. It looks like play but they are developing skills which they need later.

Today we don't know if the skills we needed for pearl diving are still important (for kids of today). Today is the era of computer games. There are games which can train entrepreneurship, a friend of mine expressed his concern about my son spending too much time playing video games. But how do you know what the future holds? Maybe those games which he's playing are needed in the future. The skills which we see from the kids today might be very important for their future. Today playing games is important for education. You can certainly use the skills in the future, it's not only about academic but games are important. Design and concept can be acquired from playing skillful games. So see it as a tool not just only to entertain but at the same time acquiring knowledge and skills.

Remember the past

KT: What was the message you hope to send with this theme to the visitors of the Dubai Design Week? And what is the story you hope to tell about Kuwait then and now?

Shalaan: In the race with our future we should not neglect the past. We don't have to hold onto the past but we can certainly look to the past for inspiration. There are lessons that are learned over the experiences of the past generations that we can use as a source to build and shape our future. No need to totally discard the past.

The message that I would like to bring to the Kuwaiti people is that it is a great nation, has history of being an innovative people, when it comes to the past Kuwait created the fastest dhow in the Gulf in the place which is considered scarcest in the world. But still Kuwaitis managed to survive.

We must incorporate the past into the present to shape the future. Hold on to that spirit and be proactive, we are seeing it now slowly though but as you see, from the businesses thriving in Kuwait certainly we are learning a lot. We can continue to build and contribute to the output design of the region and the world because of that heritage. A good designer can work with lots of constraints. I think the post oil era should not take that spirit of innovation away from us.

By Ben Garcia