The New Creative

This March our Executive Creative Director Karl Escritt is speaking at Dubai Lynx on their Arabic Creativity Stage. This is MENA’s premier festival of creativity, recognised globally as a benchmark for creative excellence, and brings together the region’s top creative communicators to celebrate the power of creativity.

Karl will be exploring “The New Creative”: investigating ways in which Arabic creative street culture is developing against a traditionally non “punk” landscape, and the ripple effects this is having on the rest of the world.

The Iconic Punk designers Jamie Reid and Vivienne Westwood defined a visual language that shaped a counter culture. This in turn defined a way of working, a tone of voice and ultimately a design aesthetic that was adopted by designers from all industries across the globe.

This visual freedom, design against the norm and punk aesthetic is still very much shaping the landscape and design practices seen in today’s society. One may say that London’s Shard or the Centre Pompidou in Paris could never have been built without this movement, nor would we be buying limited edition Supreme x Louis Vuitton without punk crossing into to the mainstream fashion culture. The UAE is filled with incredible architecture on a grand scale, it’s amass with luxury shops and fine restaurants. However, on many of these streets we have the beginnings of creative street culture that is very unique and entirely Arabic.

This leads one to ask: what might this mean for Arabic creativity, and more importantly– what is happening right now that’s creating such a cultural impact on creative culture in the Arab world?

This is currently being expressed through Streetwear brands like “Up Classics” and designer “Amir Hassan” who are taking traditional Arabic script and applying it to modern western streetwear garments. They are doing so in a way that individually highlights a concrete point of difference in style, while also bringing to the front the need for a real creative aesthetic that is truly Arabic at its core. It’s an incredible time for Arabic design and, if allowed to evolve, will see exciting opportunities for all who appreciate the unique and diverse in design culture.

Join Karl on Monday 12th March in Dubai to gain firsthand insight into this exciting movement as it develops.