Smell, they say, develops and triggers memories like no other sense. A whiff of fresh zaatar bread can take you back to your childhood friend’s Friday morning breakfast table while the aroma of car...

It started with an incense burner my late aunt Hessah had gifted me, one of the dozens of burners she had hoarded and hid in the deep corners of her home. The object was small - it could easily fit...

Two Arabic words denote the concept of craft: sina’a (صناعة ) and hirfa (حرفة). Essentially, the first refers to process while the second refers to skill. Both are valid in describing craft. All Ar...

In a recent exhibition dedicated to the 100 years of the renown Italian company Alessi, one of the display windows showcased objects that never saw the light; a fruit bowl, a kettle, a coffee se...

Desert truffles are a much-awaited delicacy in this part of the world.  Dependent on the Fall rains, their Spring time arrival is a most anticipated one.  H.R. Dickson wrote in his classic The ...

The story of the mashrabiya table started in Kuwait, was fleshed out in Antwerp and physically born in Kabul. It draws its elegant shape from the creative mind of Nedda El Asma...

A few years ago, my dear friend Ghadah Alkandari filled a turquoise Mashrabiya Notebook with beautiful designs and journal entries.

MASHRABIYA STORIES:  HUDA ABDULMUGHNI and the local ecology  Kuwaiti photographer Huda Abdulmughni started experimenting with polaroid transfer photography during the first few mont...

Hardship and survival in a barren land is the story of pre-oil Kuwait. Bas Ya Bahar (1972), Kuwait’s first and only...