The United Arab Emirates landscape is expanding once again, with Sharjah set for the region’s first contemporary crafts museum.
The Irthi Museum will open in Sharjah’s Creative Quarter sometime in 2029 and house a permanent collection of contemporary crafts from across the Gulf, the Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council announced. More specifically, the museum will preserve and document tradition skills—weaving, woodworking, glassmaking, and more— while offering opportunities for research and the development of new craft practices.
“The Irthi Museum stands as a living bridge between heritage techniques and contemporary expressions,” Reem BinKaram, director-general of the Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council, told The National,
He added, “It is a celebration of craft not as a preserved relic, but as a vibrant, evolving legacy.”
The council was established in 2016 by Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi. By 2019, following Sharjah’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art, it was providing vocational training for Emirati craftswomen through its Bidwa Social Development Program. Novice and seasoned artisans alike practice local art forms, including safeefah (palm-frond weaving), faroukha (a hand-woven tassel), and talli embroidery, while collaborating with international designers such as Murano.
The Sharjah Creative Quarter, meanwhile, is under construction by Taller de Arquitectura – Mauricio Rocha in collaboration with Daniel Rossello, on a site near the American University of Sharjah. Like most Gulf creative projects, it is ambitious in scope and rapidly taking shape. Other institutions planned for the quarter include Qasimi Archives, Sharjah Fashion Lab, Sharjah Design Centre, and a Sharjah satellite of L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.
