Beauty from the Middle East
For this project I was inspired by the traditional face covering known as a “batoola” or “batula”. Worn traditionally by the Bedouin women (Persian Gulf Region) this includes the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait , Saudi Arabia and Iran. Each country has its own variations.
Originally it was worn for protection from the desert climate; it’s also served as a rite of passage for young women before marriage as a garment of modesty. Nowadays its mainly the older generation that still wear it and the younger generation reserves it more for special occasion.
Although you can’t really buy the traditional ones, that are originally made out of leather, silk, sequins and embroidered threads.
In this day and age there are many modernisations of these masks within fashion, made from chains, beads and all sorts of materials. For this particular brief we were asked to create a mask using up cycled materials, I used old jewellery and existing products as inspiration for shape and style.
I loved the final outcome, as I found a cheap and creative way to recreate, a popular piece of jewellery that had traditional roots. Having a background in 3D design has allowed me to broaden my horizon’s within graphic design, and explore and incorporate physical design with digital.
