Doha, September 30 (QNA) - The Design Doha Biennial has announced the return of its international artist residency program, titled Crafting Design Futures, with four homegrown designers from Qatar, the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia selected to work with a pantheon of leading Mexican artisans as part of the 2026 Qatar-Mexico Year of Culture partnership.
Participating designers in the artist residency program will work in family-run workshops and gain firsthand knowledge of techniques passed down through generations, while exploring ways to reimagine these techniques through contemporary design.
From ancient engraving traditions to hand-hammered copper in Santa Clara del Cobre, the program explores ways to sustain traditional knowledge through creative exchange.
The works growing out of the program will be presented from Oct. 8 to Nov. 1 as part of the "Vision y Tradicion" program exhibition at Mexico Design Week, at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
The program is a platform founded by Mexico Design Week and Mexico Territorio Creativo that seeks to connect contemporary designers with artisan communities throughout Mexico through research, collaboration and cultural exchange. It also helps highlight traditional knowledge while providing opportunities to build new cultural, professional and creative connections.
Design Doha Director Fahad Al Obaidly said the success of the first artist residency in Morocco was clear evidence that the most important designs emerge from the creative collaboration of people, rather than simply working side by side. 
He added that the first residency was a progenitor of this kind of creative collaboration, helping demonstrate how design can emerge from the exchange of knowledge and expertise among people.
Through partnerships with the Years of Culture, Design Doha therefore intends to create a platform that provides designers and artisans with a space for knowledge exchange, challenging perspectives and building relationships that inspire the next generation of designers, Al Obaidly highlighted. He stated that this is precisely the kind of lasting impact that the Years of Culture were designed to achieve.
Overall, the four collaborative projects this year leverage media including clay, engraving, ceramics and metalwork, and hand-hammered copper, with each collaboration exploring what becomes of traditional knowledge when it meets contemporary design, as well as how a time-honored technique can acquire a new expression and how designers can engage with an authentic craft rather than simply reproducing it. (QNA)