How can contemporary packaging design elevate the perceived and cultural value of local craftsmanship in today’s market? How can the act of opening become a meaningful ritual that respectfully extends the story, labor, and identity embedded in handmade objects?
This 5-day immersive workshop explores packaging as a bridge between heritage and contemporary audiences. Participants will work with locally inspired products and craft traditions to design unboxing experiences that foreground materiality, gesture, anticipation, and reveal. Rather than treating packaging as a secondary layer, the workshop positions it as an extension of the craft itself—a narrative device that can deepen cultural connection and bring the values embedded in handmade objects into contemporary contexts.
Through emotional mapping, structural experimentation, and hands-on prototyping, participants will develop complete unboxing concepts rooted in regional material culture. Sliding, unfolding, layering, resistance, and texture will be explored as design tools for choreographing the act of opening and creating moments of discovery.
By the end of the workshop, each participant will produce a fully articulated unboxing prototype, accompanied by a storyboard and live presentation. The outcomes may be documented or exhibited as contemporary design interpretations of local craft, demonstrating how packaging can contribute to the appreciation, relevance, and cultural value of handmade objects.
This workshop is designed for designers, architects, product designers, creative entrepreneurs, craft practitioners, and others interested in contemporary interpretations of heritage and material culture. It is particularly suited to participants with an interest in storytelling, structural design, material exploration, and hands-on experimentation.
Registration fee: 450 QAR