Makers and shakers

For this year’s residency cohort, AlUla is not only a site of production but a collaborator embedded in every decision. “Despite their diverse practices, a clear thread connects them: a shared sensitivity to material, time and landscape, and a commitment to translating research and observation into thoughtful, site-responsive outcomes rather than imposed forms,” says assistant curator Majedah Aldulaijan. The results of their months-long work will be on display as part of the expansive exhibition Material Witness: Celebrating Design From Within.

Altin Studio

Founded by interior designer Yasmine Sfar and civil engineer Mehdi Kebaier, Tunisian duo Altin Studio treats craft as a living language. Working from a family-run atelier, they collaborate with local artisans to rework ancestral techniques into contemporary forms grounded in material intelligence. In AlUla, their triptych “Wadi, Waha and Yusr” explores the palm tree as both material and memory, layering fronds, fibres and dyes to echo the oasis’s rhythms of resourcefulness.

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Aseel Othman Alamoudi

Jeddah-based Aseel Alamoudi works fluidly across object, space and scale, exploring how form shapes social interaction. Her practice spans sculptural furniture and urban installations that trace the edges where buildings meet the sky. In AlUla, she reimagines the bench as a fractured, stepped structure cast in layered fibre-reinforced polymer to echo sedimentary rock, inviting climbing, lounging or pause – a playful new gesture within an ancient terrain.

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Ori Orisun Merhav

Brussels-based designer and material researcher Ori Orisun Merhav is drawn to overlooked materials. Her ongoing project Made by Insects explores shellac, a natural polymer produced by lac insects, shaped through techniques ranging from glass-blowing to 3D printing. For the residency, Merhav uses discarded palm sheaths as the basis for lighting sculptures that are pressed, coated in shellac and thermally cured, glowing with a warm amber radiance.

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Paul Moustapha Ledron

For Paul Moustapha Ledron, objects carry stories and cultural memory. Drawing on the history of West African craftsmanship, he reworks traditional forms into contemporary lighting and furniture. In AlUla, Ledron created a series made from black-dyed meranti and sandiyan wood, including a lamp that filters light through palm-paper tiles, a cyanotype-upholstered daybed and a triangular incense altar that releases scent in measured intervals.

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Studio ThusThat

Studio ThusThat founders Kevin Rouff and Paco Böckelmann explore how industrial waste can be reimagined. Their practice takes byproducts, such as refinement residue, and transforms them into functional objects. For their residency, they investigated the region’s volcanic geology, creating a seating piece that pairs naturally formed basalt with slag shaped by industrial processes while referencing ancient cairns – stacked stone markers that once guided travellers through the desert.