Reweaving the Palm Tree for a New Generation

Once a necessity of everyday life, palm weaving is now being reexamined as a contemporary design language, as designers, researchers and artisans gathered at Al Riwaq Art Space to debate the future of palm tree heritage. Held under the slogan When Art Meets Design, the talk brought together organisers to reconsider how khus weaving can move beyond preservation and into contemporary design, collaboration and material experimentation.

Dialogue

Moderated by Robert Frith, the session explored how khus, traditionally woven from date palm leaves for shelter, storage and everyday use, can carry new meaning without losing its relationship to land and labour. Frith explained that the residency was designed to unite masters of the craft with designers and researchers from different disciplines, allowing the material itself to guide experimentation rather than forcing it into predefined design trends. 

Roots

Mariam Al Noaimi, a Bahraini architect and researcher, spoke about the palm tree as a system of knowledge rather than an object. She stressed that khus weaving carries languages, rhythms and techniques developed through generations living alongside palm groves. These skills, she noted, are learned through proximity to land and practice, not abstraction. Removing the craft from its social and environmental context risks turning it into surface decoration rather than lived knowledge. 

Continuity

Sara Kanoo, a Bahraini architect involved in family run art spaces, expanded on this idea by questioning how palm trees are often reduced to visual motifs in urban landscapes. She argued that treating the palm as ornament strips it of its role as a provider of material, shade and community structure. True sustainability, she said, lies in supporting the people who work with khus and the land that produces it, allowing the craft to evolve without erasing its roots.

Together, the discussion reframed the palm tree not as heritage frozen in time, but as a material practice capable of shaping contemporary design through care, continuity and respect for place.