April 6, 2021
By Mairi Beautyman
“All my inspiration stems from my childhood experiences and cultural heritage,” reveals Hozan Zangana, who fled Iraqi Kurdistan as a teenager with his family in the 1980s. Last November, during Dubai Design Week 2020, the Netherlands-based designer presented “Fata Morgana,” a socially distanced seating installation punctuated by pillars representing the seven Emirates. Erected in the heart of the Dubai Design District (d3), the installation was the most recent pavilion in the annual Abwab series, which celebrates regional design talent. Zangana is no stranger to the competition he co-curated and designed “Excavations,” the 2016 Abwab pavilion in collaboration with Rand Abdul Jabbar.