Cultured Brands

[Music] [Music] [Music] Ness! You're not Ness! You're Ness! You're Misha! We are Luxury and Edited. And this is. Hinder me from your phone. Hi! How are you? Welcome to the Mad House. I'm very excited to be proud of this Mad House today. Yes! But you may not be by the end of it. Hello! Let's be right now, we'll stay friends. Hi! So today we are talking about heritage and culture and the role of that within everything from luxury brands to local brands to consuming experience, collaboration, it's becomeite. And I think, not just here in the region, everywhere in the world, there has been after COVID, there has been this huge. I don't know, like, suction of everyone wanting localization, right? Actually, that was a trend pre-COVID. It just. Exactly. I mean it. - Yeah, escalating. - E-scalating it. - E-scalating it, gosh. - It's not the English, it's really coming out. (laughs) - You know, get to a certain age and you need to use your words. So could do me know a little bit about you, hint perhaps, way from like you're an artist, you're a visual artist, I respected visual artist. And cultural commentator. - Oh I like that. - Cultural commentator. - I'm a cultural commentator. - I'm a non-paisy commentator. (laughs) - My name is Henry DeMaithan and I'm here. I'm from the UAE and I'm also half Egyptian. So I have both cultures running through my blood. And in regards to what I do, I simply do what I love. Whether it be art, whether it be design, whether it be a culture of commentator or a heritage commentator too, because I've recently really, really developed this interest in having to learn more about the heritage of the UAE and the region and how we can share that with the world. - Yeah. - Because we have a lot of it. - Yeah and what drove you to that? Is it people's misconceptions of the region, do you think, or the UAE specifically, to be frank, traveling? - Traveling. - When I traveled the world, I realized how, a lot of people are so proud of their cultures and they transcend through whatever they do and some countries obviously have it more than the others. And I was like, okay, we have this in the UAE, but it's not necessarily because we're such a multicultural and diverse country. We need to equally represent ourselves, believe it or not, even the expats or like the non-emoratists, the residents of the UAE. - They're very proud to live in UAE. - And proud to represent our culture and heritage too. - 'Cause even that word, expats, I feel it's so outdated, particularly in the UAE because the UAE well-posed. - That's why I rephrased it to me. - Yeah. - The UAE welcomes so many people and so many people have made this their home. - Yeah, people have been in a world that's been in a world that's been relatively unstable for a few years. - Dubai has been the UAE, it's been. - Yeah, fantastic home, the many people. - So yeah, this is mainly where I got that drive to like learn more about it in terms of the geographical or environmental aspect of the region of the UAE and then the craftsmanship, the old techniques that are used, how we can merge that with design, with art and represent it in a way that is more relevant to us today, rather than the cliché of like, okay, just show him the burger or show him the camera. - Exactly, there's so much more to our heritage than that. So I feel it's like a very, it's a topic that no matter, just for example, the camel itself, okay, you see the camel as a form of transportation or the beautification of this animal and it's lashes, et cetera, but it has so many things to value, exactly. Whether it be the skin, whether it be what it offers in terms of food and in terms of drinks like the man. - That's our living as well. - Yeah, in terms of all of that. So yeah, this is where my artwork or my design work has always had this reference to culture, but now I feel it's more towards the aspect of heritage because of this ongoing interest in researching more. - So what's the difference? Like, can you explain to us different string culture and heritage? - I would say heritage is more reside in the, in the, I would say not objects, but the values, the ethics, et cetera, and things that are more in- - In-grained in history, I would think heritage is much more in-grained in history. - Exactly, yeah, culture is like behavioral. - Culture is more behavioral. - Right, right. - So it's an interest of mine. Is there anything unique you think in terms of the UA, in terms of culture or heritage? - I would say, because you know, as you know, like a lot of people out there, so just mix the whole of this mean, - Saffection, Saff global. - Like all together into like one big ball. - Mouting point, yeah. - I would say the UAE is just different in the aspect of hospitality and the proof of it is that it's how to solve it. - Oh, yeah. - Yeah, and we do have it in the region, but UAE is distinct and unique in its own way. - Yeah. - It's a place that so many people feel safe to call home. - Yeah, and that doesn't happen in a lot of countries, right? - Yeah, and hemmed in. - It's also, I think, for me, what I've seen outside, it changed the western view, the any of you outside the international view of what, an Arab country can be like. - Can you be as like camping? - You'd be surprised I went to California and the Institute of the Arts for my Masters, and that was only back in now, like 2011, but back then, I would imagine that people already knew that our countries are developed and so on. So when I used to say I'm from Dubai, I'm from the United Arab Emirates, so they go like, okay, so do you write camels to work? And I'm like, are they serious? - Yes, you're just saying it's sarcastic. - But it turns out to be true that a lot of people didn't know that, but today, they are very well aware of what the UAE is and what Dubai is. - Yeah. - Maybe also because we worked a lot in regards to whether it be collaborations, internationally, whether it be the media, etc, etc. - I mean, expo also did a lot. - Yeah, for sure. - For sure. - Even before it actually happened, the talk was for so long that it's been seen. - It's funny because people from the region are so, I guess the rest of the world would be shocked at this, but we're so global in terms of our vision, in terms of our knowledge of knowing, what's out there who people are, we're quite intuitive to different cultures, that kind of thing, but it doesn't happen the other way. - No, no, for sure not. I mean, until recently I realized that a lot of the international, I mean, they're just within their own bubble. Or they're, okay, Instagram helped to open up that conversation, but still you would see a large percentage of them just being interested in what's happening around them and not necessarily our globally. - And do you see the, I mean, remember we had a very, 'cause Hinden, I used to work together. Many, many moons ago in government. - Yes. - And we had the most brilliant history lesson from one of our colleagues on how the luxury brands and the UAE customers journey to their knowledge. I mean, he was like a real comedian. He had us in stitches, but actually the customer here knows exactly what they want. - Yeah. - They know a lot about the brand, more than a lot of the people working within the brand. And so they're like, it's almost ingrained now, when I think about the UAE and GCC, I think a lot about luxury brands and the luxury consumer and customer. - Yeah, of course. - Yeah, I mean, you only have to look at the malls, right? The malls, yeah. - I have to look at the malls, I mean, the best brands in the world are all represented and represented with huge flagship stores. - Before hand, we used to travel. - The biggest, the biggest, yeah. - The biggest tech store. - Before hand, we used to travel to get these luxury brands, et cetera. Now, whenever we travel, - Now the luxury brands are traveling. - Yeah, we don't even buy away from Dubai. I mean, we get most of our luxury brands here because there are also exclusive collections only set to the UAE. So, yeah. So I think, I mean, the whole how this little kicked off is we had. supper the other day with a very big luxury brand one of your favourites in fact to me sure. Sorry, we're not allowed to say what it was. We're not allowed to say what it was. They were super interested in actually the Middle Eastern woman in terms of the creative landscape and all of that. I thought it'd be nice to delve into conversation about in terms of an artist working with a luxury brand, how can that be brought forward in terms of have there any collaborations that we've been? Wow, because there's a lot of collaborations between luxury brands and artists. The latest one with the Japanese artist. There are a few. What's your name? I love you, Chris. With Alvi. Yes, with Alvi. And you know, Zillian artist. El Sied I think did something with Alvi. Alvi, yes. Alvi, yes. There's a lot. There is a lot. And Emirates specifically they've worked with many international brands dating up back in the one that I personally experienced 2011. I want to say Dubai Moul was with Mira, Khrez and Fendi where they had her produce a very unique and sustainability environment, the friendly, environmentally friendly, leders, etc. and so on and so forth. I mean, having to use leather in a manner that is more long lasting and so on and so forth. She was simply, she turned a space in Dubai Moul into a studio space where she was crafting that handbag in front of everyone. I don't remember that. Back in 2011. That was my first experience. I know why I don't remember it. You want to hear it? I know I was. You want to hear it? I just made a. Okay. So, yeah, that was one of the first ones and then recently one of the most recent collaborations is with Abdalamullah and Urmaz and what can you tell us a little bit about that? Petitsuk or Petits Hsuk. So, it's simply having to get all the pieces, bits and pieces that they didn't use and recreate unique and distinct pieces. So he did not only the interior architecture of the space as a pop-up but rather even the products were designed to represent pieces of. Let's resemble the UAE and the Suk vibe and so on. It was very on point. What was beautiful about it, that that experience is very unique to the UAE. Yeah. It's not unique to the. Right. minor agent or the Gulf. It's unique to the UAE. And they managed as a team to simply get that pop-up happen and be that impactful and a lot of people reacted with it because of how specific he was and representing the beauty of the brand, whether it be the cloths, whether it be the leather, whether it be merging the colors, etc., etc. But in a way that is very true to our culture and a way that's very true to our. What I'm interested in about that is did Armez. market it outside as well. Because they can do it here to keep it local. But surely getting that heritage outside as well as the people. That's very important as well. That soft power, that getting that cultural cross-conversation is really important. See that's a good question because we also, at Hamzett Wassell, we did a social media post. Can you tell us what that is? Hamzett Wassell Studio is the studio that I've founded and I created direct projects within. It's an art and design management studio. So we focus on various projects in regards to whether it be art or design, whether it be acquisition of artwork, exhibition design, consultancy, and production, for example, when it comes to design, production of products, furniture, etc. So that's more or less what we do where Hamzett Wassell translates as the link between. So we link artists to artists, designers to designers or designers to a government entity, a fabricator like a production company to an artist. We simply are the umbrella, or I always say that we're like the tent, we're like the circus to our heritage. Bringing back to our heritage, but twist of also international impact on our upbringing. I do think of us as a circus because we choose the right talent, we choose the right expertise, and you just choose to show them there. Exactly, depending on the project that we receive. So with Hamzett Wassell and Tiffany, we had to approach us for a calendar, a yearly post for certain events like Reed, Dramban, Hagelay, etc. Mainly to do with the UAE for their social media. We did it very much in line with our culture. However, that question that you asked, was it ever posted in the Tiffany and Co that is not middle east? No. Was it shared in their platform, no, it was mainly evites or newsletters and so on. So for me, this is something I would like to see change. Yeah, absolutely. Because we need to be represented outside as well. Right. Because there is talent here. We only have to see for instance, you know, you talent say, "Forell doing something that we have to have that here and everybody wants it." No, there's talent that can be shared outside as well to show who we are and our heritage and our culture. To take away that myth, you'll be surprised at the amount of people that still don't really understand what happens in the middle east. I mean, I live in Oman, which I love and has been my home for 27 years. Sometimes I say to people, "Oh, I'm from Oman. Where?" It's shocking, right? It is shocking. And they don't have the concept that it's this beautiful land and it really is a stunning country with so much to offer. Sorry, to interrupt. I was just thinking, you know, as someone that, like, loves luxury. If you were to realise that one of your favourite brands was doing a collaboration with artists from the region, does that make you more likely to buy from that collection or does it start a conversation to you? It would start a conversation, but for me, what I would like to see more, it's not necessarily about me buying it because I would already know what I would like to see is it being put to the forefront and imported out. It's about time. It's about time. We have it. I would say maybe 20 years back. I would not even say 10 years back. 20 years back or 15 years back. I would say, "Okay, maybe, okay, we need to work a bit more." Now, Mashallah, we have so much talent and talent that has been or professionals. I can't even call them talent. Professionals in the field. That can definitely represent a broad and produce quality work that we should definitely export. But quality is actually what I want to pick up on because I think a lot of people still don't associate local brands with quality and it's crazy because in terms of heritage in the region and in terms of craftsmanship, where did civilization start from? Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello. And design and so many things. I find it like shocking. But that's the thing. Sometimes, I've been with people and even something is basic as a supermarket. They look at a product and they'll say, "Oh, this one's made in Switzerland or this one's made in Kuwait and they'll buy the Swiss one." Why? Because they think all the Swiss one will be better quality. It's about education, I guess, isn't it? Is it the more collaborations we'll see, the more we'll have belief in? But not until those collaborations become international. There's no point in doing a collaboration just for the UAE, on the UAE product. We know that. I feel not only just the collaborations, but even the individual representations are broad. I think that whether it be the designers themselves or the government support or so on, at least in the UAE, I could speak about the UAE. I don't know about the other countries around us, but definitely there's a huge support in representing the designers and artists abroad and bringing them internationally, not necessarily only with collaborations. Because of that, I do see that there'll be doors opening. And then, regards to quality, as you know, like maybe eight years ago or seven years ago when we're looking into production and so forth, whether it be fashion, whether it be design. We didn't have places where we could not only the turn. You didn't have the setup. The setup. So for a lot of the time, I think specific to UAE here. talent creatively. They have it, they have it, yeah, they're creatively but it was that translation into the reality, this product was very difficult. The quality of the likes of like Teškil who works the lot of local manufacturers and in terms of design and there's that understanding of beginning to find a place. Soak-killed and then go and a lot of factories that are now understanding like for example, wooden factory steel factories, etc. beforehand when you go to them and tell them okay I want to do this structure, help me. Like for example in Egypt they have the sense of a master and then the supporters, the laborers with him to support him but the master would get to your thought and then they would obviously he knows how to do whatever he wants. He can actually turn your vision into a reality. But yeah, and divide know what do you, but that's change. Now I think change completely. And that's why I'm saying the quality is no longer at risk as to. So what do you think it takes or it will take for these brands to actually remove that stigma because I think there's still some kind of stigma related to the Middle East. Let's not, let's not you know pretend otherwise that they know it's true. Let's put it on there. Let's go very close. A friend of ours just did a collaboration with a major French perfume house, right? I didn't see that put on there. Did you see it put on their Instagram internationally or regionally I saw it? I think the bottle is being sold internationally. There's only two in the region. Yeah. Which makes me think that their collectors are global collectors. Okay. But have you seen it advertised? I haven't seen. Yeah, I haven't been aware of it. So again, sure, we can soon try. But I'm not, I'm not going to look, I'll go look that up. So again, there's lots of, there's lots of things that are done regionally and then they're supported here because also the mindset is, okay, we'll do this regionally. There's enough money for it to be sold here. We don't need to worry elsewhere, right? Yeah. Until you get actually people in positions from this part of the world or, or, you know, understanding, working in different markets in the media and that abroad, you're not going to get so much of that influence being pushed out there. And we need that influence. But it takes way longer time. Yes. And you have to be very patient with it. But definitely it accelerates the understanding of the importance of it and then the credibility. Yeah. Because it's coming from that. But I think like on a federal and on a emerald level, that vision is there. So they're very aware of it in terms of taking the artists out, showcasing them out. And, you know, the creative industries is a whole, that's, that's a very strong and powerful way to, we need someone to break that glass ceiling. We need one artist that's just going to actually, all of a sudden do something. Yeah. Yeah. Freezardier, our auspices, our masters. I've got a piece of sheikh. I love sheikh. I mean, I had to check her down from, from Desert X. I mean, she's incredible. Amazing. Yeah, you see, but she represented in Freezardier. Yes. Before hand, you wouldn't have imagined that it could actually be an opportunity that we have a young sculpture artist and to represent in such a platform. But her work was amazing. But also at I know, man, we had, we had radicals work. Yes, radicals. I have some pieces from her, which I love. Yes, from, at the, at the Biannali, I mean, she was incredible. And I'm going, I'm going to go around to Sheikh's house and steal a piece of hers because she can no longer, she'll have a cup of coffee, no way you know. Yes. I'm coming to get whatever your sculptors are. They're amazing. Next time I led your sons, one of my sons, costumes, I'm coming to get a sculpture. It was a round Sheikh around. And do you know what's beautiful? Is that she actually manufactures or like produces the produces from the American? She insists on it. Yes. Which is, for me, yes, sheikh, yes. And this is what she's incredible, huh? We need to go more off. She is. We need more of that. Yeah, she's an educator as well. Yes. So if there was like, you know, you was an artist. Yeah, there was a visual artist. If there was anyone, if there was a, what brand or even, you know, in terms of your age, if there was a brand and an artist doesn't have to be, who would be the perfect, who would be the perfect match to break that costume? Yeah, exactly. Break that meaning. I can break that meaning. Just with your singing. Just like that. Exactly. Oh my God. There's a lot of names. I hope that there are lots of them. What we have said with you. You don't need to know. No, no, no, no, no. Just know if there was a one that you got to make ideal. You got to make it to a brand. And that brand would have to have the vision to want to take it forward. I would say her saswadi and buttega. Oh, buttega, you heard it here first. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to go and have lunch. I'm going to fetch it. Don't get my bag. I think that would be a very, that would be a very good today. That's sad. Buttega, why, why does she? Yes. Saswadi comes from a textile background. Yeah, you have to explain this. She comes from a textile background. She did her, she just recently also graduated with her MFA from Parsons. Oh. And she's now working as the first Emirati accessories designer for Nike. Oh. So she's actually working there as we speak. And she's been doing so for I would say almost a year or now. Why buttega? I feel because of the craftsmanship of the aspect of weaving. Yeah. And has had a lot of work that is inspired by the weaving of or safafu we call it a nomaraty in the region, but not in the traditional manner. By not the traditional manner, I mean, she took the technique, but then she deconstructed it and reconstruct reconstructed it in a digitized manner and then had it then produced like she printed it and then had to weave it again and so on and so forth. She did a lot of iterations and a lot of experimentation with with with this. So I feel it would be a good synergy to use materials inspired by what they usually use, including what a technology or a new form of implementation she can add to their techniques to produce a piece that is specific to what our culture or heritage represents, but in a international level. Yeah. And to take that. And that doesn't necessarily need to be a bag. It could be a jumper. It could be shoes. It could be whatever it is, but yeah, I think that is a that- He's a vet-loving textile. A textile, a little scent, yes. But he's ready to wear his teeth die for it. I just wanted to check. I had a quick look at the brand who did the collaboration. Yes. There is nothing on their international level. Ah, if you did a research, there is nothing on their international. There is other bottles. That's surprising. Because actually in terms of social media, it went crazy here because of the design. Because of the designer she's so well- liked and well loved and well respected. And as a creative person. Yes. It was a perfect collaboration. And you know in terms of the region, the level of fragrance. Yes, the storytelling around fragrance is so important. So why wasn't it good enough to showcase internationally? That's true. I think for so long, I don't know, speaking like, trying to put a brand tattoo on. You know, they used to do global campaigns that just went across everywhere. Then they started doing- and they have been for a while- -We've been working- -regional localisation in terms of campaigns and brands. But maybe they just became too insular and too focused rather than thinking. And the world is more accepting, I think, than they realise. For instance, if we talk about Elvi and we talk about, I think it's Ray Koi, I can't pronounce her name, but she's fantastic. I mean, I bought the clothes, not the- I'd not keen on the bag, the collaboration. But phenomenal Japanese artists, right? Loved and respected, but not everybody everywhere. Well, understanding. But it's a global campaign. I mean, there's nowhere that you went where an Elvi didn't have her on top of the store. But she's also a much more established artist, I guess. But yeah, why are we using semi-hallebby for the song? -Yes, sort of with her colours and the use of texture. Yeah, good point. We need to delve into that. So what do we say to them then? -Read the room. -Read the world. The world is a bit- the world is a bit replaced, then you imagine it's not all about, you know, take a chance. 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