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Shawky Abdalla

Contacts

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Munajat

Design as a Dialogue with the Divine

Contemporary design discourse remains grounded in functional, seemingly user-centered paradigms, often neglecting what lies beyond the tangible within a human experience. This research challenges such frameworks by positioning design as a dialogue with what exceeds the physical, moving toward the experiential, where meaning precedes and informs form. Drawing on Islamic philosophy, particularly the relationship between zahir and batin (outward form and inward meaning), the study repositions design as a medium for remembrance (dhikr) rather than mere utility.

Through a critique of modernist and postmodernist principles, the research proposes an ergonomics of the soul, where objects engage memory, introspection, and transcendence in meaningful and lasting ways. Time is approached as a thematic design problem, not to measure it more precisely but to encounter it more intuitively and inventively, reflecting on its ephemeral nature.

The project culminates in three multisensory objects that unfold through time, guiding deeper awareness, reflection, and spiritual attunement.

A candleholder clock where light slowly moves through each chamber, marking the passage of time until the candle fully dissolves.

A terracotta reservoir for the Rose of Jericho, placed on an aluminum plate where gradual markings reveal the plant’s water absorption over time.

A terracotta and aluminum music box, where the porous clay body holds scent, releasing it over time to evoke memory through the olfactory senses.

Shawky Abdalla

MFA in Design 2026

Contemporary design discourse remains grounded in functional, seemingly user-centered paradigms, often neglecting what lies beyond the tangible within a human experience. This research challenges such frameworks by positioning design as a dialogue with what exceeds the physical, moving toward the experiential, where meaning precedes and informs form. Drawing on Islamic philosophy, particularly the relationship between zahir and batin (outward form and inward meaning), the study repositions design as a medium for remembrance (dhikr) rather than mere utility.

Through a critique of modernist and postmodernist principles, the research proposes an ergonomics of the soul, where objects engage memory, introspection, and transcendence in meaningful and lasting ways. Time is approached as a thematic design problem, not to measure it more precisely but to encounter it more intuitively and inventively, reflecting on its ephemeral nature.

The project culminates in three multisensory objects that unfold through time, guiding deeper awareness, reflection, and spiritual attunement.

Tags

Spiritual

Munajat

Design as a Dialogue with the Divine

Shawky Abdalla

MFA in Design 2026

Tags

Spiritual

Contemporary design discourse remains grounded in functional, seemingly user-centered paradigms, often neglecting what lies beyond the tangible within a human experience. This research challenges such frameworks by positioning design as a dialogue with what exceeds the physical, moving toward the experiential, where meaning precedes and informs form. Drawing on Islamic philosophy, particularly the relationship between zahir and batin (outward form and inward meaning), the study repositions design as a medium for remembrance (dhikr) rather than mere utility.

Through a critique of modernist and postmodernist principles, the research proposes an ergonomics of the soul, where objects engage memory, introspection, and transcendence in meaningful and lasting ways. Time is approached as a thematic design problem, not to measure it more precisely but to encounter it more intuitively and inventively, reflecting on its ephemeral nature.

The project culminates in three multisensory objects that unfold through time, guiding deeper awareness, reflection, and spiritual attunement.

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