Max Fraser joins the designer and curator of Amman Design Week’s Hangar Exhibition, architect Sahel Al Hiyari and the Director of the Center for the Study of the Built Environment, architect and architectural historian Mohammad Al-Asad, in a talk on the varying approaches to being a designer today, from working independently as an entrepreneur, designing for industry, working within larger organizations and governments. The discussion will explore new technologies, consumption, changing attitudes from consumers and clients, and global problems as they relate to the world of design.

English / Free

Max Fraser is a design writer, curator and consultant, and one of the UK's most respected authorities in contemporary design. He was the Deputy Director of the London Design Festival from 2012-2015 and is the founder and editor of the London Design Guide, now in its fourth edition. He is the author of numerous design books, including Design UK and Designers on Design, co-written with Sir Terence Conran. As a journalist, he contributes to a variety of publications, ranging from Crafts to L'Uomo Vogue and Blueprint to The Financial Times.

Sahel Al Hiyari is the Principal Architect at Sahel Al Hiyari Architects. He holds Degrees from the Rhode Island School of Design and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Al Hiyari has lectured at Columbia, Harvard, AUB, Iran’s Physical Development Research Centre, and the Jordan University of Science and Technology. His work is published internationally and has been exhibited in Jordan and New York. In 2002, Al Hiyari became the first architect to receive the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative award. He has served as a reviewer and member of the Master Jury for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Mohammad Al-Asad studied architecture at the University of Illinois and at Harvard University before his postdoctoral research at Harvard and Princeton, where he later taught. He also taught at MIT, the University of Jordan and the German Jordanian University.