Culture & Education | Saturday 25 April, 2015 12:03 am |

Alãan proudly announces its newest project AlãanMini – launching in time for Saudi Design Week.

AlãanMini nurtures the creative talent of your children, while showcasing unique local designs in children’s clothing, furniture and other objects. It’s the only Design Week event for mothers attending with children and the only event dedicated to designer children’s pieces.

The fun includes a huge mural map of Riyadh for children to come and help colour in. Your little ones can also take away a poster of the map to colour in at home. In addition, for five days in a row, we’ve got all the C’s covered to inspire the artist in your children: cutouts, clippies, cloths, collages, crayons, and cushions!

Alãan Founder Neama Al-Sudairi explains, “AlãanMini is our chance to enthuse children about art, at an event dedicated to beautiful pieces created for children, by local designers and artists.

“Saudi Design Week is the perfect opportunity to launch AlãanMini. Ours will be the only place dedicated to children in this week. Mothers can explore creative designs on sale for children, while their kids are immersed in creative workshops.

“A key part of our mission is to put Riyadh’s artist and design talent on the map. We are taking this quite literally with AlãanMini by inviting children to come and learn the about Riyadh’s landmarks, helping to colour in our huge mural map of the city.”

AlãanMini is the first in a new calendar of Alãan Projects, devised to promote local creativity and support talented independent designers.

Ms Al-Sudairi says, “Alãan Projects celebrates experimentation and entrepreneurship in the art of every day life. Alãan Projects is our opportunity to assemble designer events with arts education programming.

“We see it as a natural reaction to the crush of global brands that surrounds us. We are proud to present local and regional designers who articulate their own creative vision and craftsmanship in response to the mass-produced world.

“The success of Crate, Alãan’s popup designer showcase brand, opened our eyes to the overwhelming interest in Riyadh for local, limited edition designs for everyday living. Alãan Projects takes this one-step further by including education, workshops, talks and other related activities within unique events.”

During Saudi Design Week, come along for:

Daily Story Time, for children, colouring in our mural of Riyadh, and workshops:

My Family Portrait (cutouts)
9th May 5-6pm
(300 SAR)

Using imagination and paper, cut out your own family portrait, with fun shapes and colours.

Tiny Monster Clippies
10th May
5-6pm
(350 SAR)

Make mini monsters from cloth clips using paper cutouts and a variety of different materials.

The Day I Was Born
11th May
5-6pm
(300 SAR)

Kids share their stories – real and imagined – about the day they were born, representing the big day through drawing and collage.

Draw Me A Cushion
12th May
5-6pm
(550 SAR)

Draw a picture and have it produced on a cushion – your very own one-off designer object that you can take home later.

What’s the calendar looking like?

June – keep an eye out for dates
Getting dressed for Ramadan

Jalabiyas, abayas, your whole wardrobe of special designs for the Ramadan will be available at a special Crate event dedicated to the season.

Alāan Mini – keep an eye out for dates
Just as school is about start again, we’ll return with the next AlāanMini event.

October
Showroom
Find everything you need in the evenings from jewellery to designer wear.