Blue Velvet Colonnade – Bahraini — Danish (Bahrain and Denmark)

Soft folds of Gentle 2 textile by Kvadrat Febrik drape to form the structure of Blue Velvet Colonnade, a soft architectural installation developed by Bahraini — Danish, the design practice of Batool Alshaikh, Maitham Almubarak and Christian Vennerstrøm Jensen. Whereas a traditional colonnade is a structural element designed to support a building, Blue Velvet Colonnade makes use of the flexibility of textile to subvert the medium – it is an element of architecture that cannot even hold itself up, and which instead drapes under its own weight. Bahraini — Danish further challenged the textile by embellishing it with golden embroidery. Playing out between the columns, this embroidery tells the tale of A’ali, a Bahraini town undergoing rapid change. Through this golden embellishment, the studio offers an interpretation of the town’s landscape, blending both present and prehistoric time.
 
 

Bahraini—danish

Bahraini—danish is a collective that uses cultural differences to create, engage and question the best ways to make. Established in Bahrain in 2016 by Batool Alshaikh, Maitham Almubarak and Christian Vennerstrøm Jensen, it is named to reflect historical encounters between Bahrain and Denmark in fields such as archaeology, architecture and dairy production. The group’s work has been presented across the Middle East and Europe.