- Art
- Spring/Summer 2026
- April
Abdulrahman Al Muftah
Qatari designer Abdulrahman Al Muftah shares his three greatest inspirations
Abdulrahman Al Muftah is one of Qatar’s most exciting contemporary designers, with a practice that shifts between design, research, publishing and curation, often blurring the line between thinking and making. Running through his work is a long-held fascination with traditional crafts and materials, particularly clay and limestone, and a deep connection with the natural world. He is also a creative entrepreneur and has produced everything from books, cosmetics and vinyl records to furniture and jewellery. Here, he shares his three biggest inspirations.
Family Heritage
“My biggest inspiration comes from my paternal grandma and my maternal grandpa, who has passed away. Ever since I was young, I have been interested in how quickly Qatar developed. I feel a bit like I missed history and have a nostalgia for something that I never lived through. My grandma would tell stories about how she used to walk through long grass and collect clay – I would think: ‘Are we talking about the same Qatar?’ In my Wild Clay project, I actually found clay in Qatar – it was a monumental moment as I felt like I was reviving lost rituals through my design work. My way of preserving my cultural heritage is through practising design.”
Nature
“Nature is closely tied to where I live and work – my studio is in Souq Al Wakra, in an old fishing village. For me, our connection to nature can be explored through two concepts: durability and decay. Travertine, for example, is a material that is not sourced sustainably but that will last for a very long time; while at the other end of the spectrum there are materials that exist for a specific moment and then change and decay. It’s OK to let them go. Through my work, I’m trying to be conscious about how I use materials and create objects – whether that is something designed for a single moment or something that might be handed down to your children.”
Travel
“My sister, who is a filmmaker, always used to say to me that creativity is a well, and you need to keep filling it. The more you take from it, the more you’re extracting from something that’s limited. You have to take care of it because your creative practice is your livelihood. For me, the best way to do that is through travel – experiencing different cultures, materials and ways people connect. Travel gives me freedom. I’m a very visual person, and everything I see gets stored somewhere in that well, whether it’s a city in Vietnam or the London Design Biennale. I also always buy books when I travel and I now have a library of over 600 volumes – it’s a way of documenting my experiences.”
Cover image: One of the works from Al Muftah’s The Essence of a Palm Tree, 2024, which was exhibited at Kusum Gallery in India. Photo: Abdulrahman Al Muftah
