Zoo

2013 – Dubai, UAE

Design Road Professional-Dubai was a six-month programme for young designers offered by the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) in collaboration with Tashkeel and Creative Dialogue Association.
Four young Emirati designers, including Khalid Shafar, were selected and guided through a specific programme to develop their own design pieces. The designers were given the chance to participate in design related workshops, seminars and shadowing programmes with other first class international designers in London and Barcelona during a two week trip.
The project was about learning to communicate their work through branding and press. All end product designs were presented at Design Days Dubai.
Khalid chose to further develop his humorous design ZOO. It was the Dubai Zoo that inspired the ‘ZOO’ shelving unit – a unit where the inflatable animals play the role of the real ones and the metal structure is the cage. In ZOO the animals are arranged so that there are spaces among them that serve as shelves and compartments to display and store things. ‘ZOO’ is a stand-alone unit that works as a screen or space divider with its carefully designed two faces as well as serving its primary role as a shelving unit. Colourful and funky, ‘ZOO’ adopts a humorous approach to design while keeping practicality and functionality as its core.