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  • Flame-ingo

    2015 – Dubai, UAE

    For the occasion of Dubai Design Week 2015, Khalid Shafar along with 3 other UAE-based designers presented a new design initiative called Design Ras Al Khor (DRAK). The objective of DRAK was to draw attention to the potential of the Ras Al Khor Industrial area as another creative district in Dubai.
    For DREAK 15, the inaugural edition of DRAK, the founding members decided on the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary as the design topic to research and to design projects around. Being the participating designers as well, each founding member/designer presented a project themed around this topic.
    FLAME-INGO was one of two projects Khalid presented during DRAK 15. Exploring the relationship between material and form through mass-produced industrial materials such as interlocking pavement blocks, Khalid reinterpreted the material to create a functional object, in this case a candleholder.
    His design drew inspiration from the body shape of the flamingos of Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary. The different kinds of interlocking blocks retain their original variety of shape, form and finish to reinforce the value of such material when put in a design form. The candleholder’s components correspond to various parts of the flamingo’s body. The tall, slender shape of the candlestick, for example, makes reference to the bird’s long neck. The candle burns and melts over the interlock body leaving a sculptured layer of wax which suggests the flamingo’s feathers.
    During DRAK 15 Khalid presented 40 FLAME-INGO in an arrangement that reflected on the flamingo’s mating process know as the Flamingo Dance. The intention was to shed light on the bird’s reproduction cycle for the local community.

    View the Flamingo Dance
    DRAK 15

  • Flame-ingo