RIYADH: In a landscape that is constantly changing, leading creatives are tackling a pressing question — how to continue to innovate creatively while also maintaining cultural authenticity?
“Across the ecosystem, whether in jewelry, architecture, industrial design or research, Saudi women are proving that creativity is both heritage and horizon,” Princess Nourah Al-Faisal, founder and designer of Nuun Jewels and CEO of Art of Heritage, said during her keynote speech at the Creative Women Forum in Riyadh this week.
The Royal Institute of Traditional Arts — also known as Wrth — is, for example, one of the leading institutions in the country working to modernize heritage.
To do that, it ensures that programs are built based on knowledge of the traditional arts while providing students with the space to channel innovation into the work.
“We see traditional arts as a moving, dynamic force, not a static remnant state of the past,” said Suzan Alyahya, CEO of Wrth.
“When you go to our labs every day, we witness our students connecting the identity with the arts, and they’re bringing it, in that way, to the future, then our arts would be really revived and brought to the newer generations.”
The non-profit institution opened its doors in 2021, offering educational and applied learning programs to empower Saudis in the crafts and artisanal field and promote sustainable growth.
This spans apprenticeships and short courses in crafts such as pottery and Sadu weaving, as well as higher education programs including master’s degrees in product development and digital heritage.
While artificial intelligence has become the new buzzword across the world, and the most feared rival for some, the concern in these creative fields is how to harmonize the human and the technological.
Amal Abduljabbar, general manager of education, research and innovation at the Heritage Commission, believes these are all interconnected and interdependent.
“Technology is not a threat to authenticity in any way. It’s actually an extension of our human story and its cultural heritage evolves with the people and their innovation,” she said.
“If we’re going to look at the value chain of heritage, we are there to preserve, protect and promote heritage.
“Preserving through smart systems, monitoring buildings, even securing these sites. If we’re going to look at protection as well, in terms of promotion, we leverage AI or VR technologies to tell the story of our heritage through technology.
“And in another way, if we look at technology, it doesn’t replace emotions and humanity, it actually amplifies it, and I think this is a good way to look at digitalization and heritage by the culture.”
“If we’re going to look at identity, it evolves with the changes that happen throughout time. And if we’re going to look at how we want to root our identity, it’s through values, actually.
“So this is what should be embedded into education and into research, there are core values that make a people what they are,” Abduljabbar said.
Technology and innovation in the creative sector, however, do not just apply to digitization.
In the beauty industry, for example, the makeup brand Asteri has revolutionized regional standards for beauty products by crafting solutions made for the area’s weather.
Instead of creating a generic lipstick or mascara that would sell globally, it has localized its consumer base to fill a gap in the market that has yet to be tapped while also weaving cultural traces within the product.
“In the beauty industry, there is nothing that caters to Arab women — not just their skin tones or face shapes or the way they look, but also for the weather,” said Sara Alrashed, founder and CEO of Asteri Beauty, noting that the brand is inspired by Arab women as well as the extreme climate in the MENA region.
