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DUBAI: Inside the remains of Carthage, the great city founded by the Phoenicians in the ninth century BC – near Tunisia's capital Tunis – are several sensitively placed objects of contemporary design. Their newly executed surface finish is in stark yet complementary contrast to the ancient ruins.

Vibrantly colored wool kilims created by Medellin-based American designer Chris Wolston and Tunisian artisans Le Kef are graciously placed over the remains of ancient Roman columns.

In addition, there are the curved lines of beautiful new pieces of palm wood furniture by Studio Manda, the firm of Lebanese designer Georges Mohasseb, made by Tunisian craftsman Kais Gharbya. These can be found nearby, also located amidst ruins and statues from ancient times.

These works are part of the inaugural show “Carthagisme” curated by Milan-based curator Nicolas Bellvance-Lecompte for Galeria Lamia Bousnina.

It is a space that opened at the end of May in the center of Tunis and is dedicated to showcasing art and design with a focus on promoting the country's craftsmanship.

“In a country where tradition is intertwined with constant Mediterranean cultural influences, the exhibition celebrates Tunisia's artistic heritage while embracing the dynamism of contemporary creative expression,” Bellvance-Lecompte said in its curatorial statement.

“We want to celebrate our Tunisian heritage,” Lamia Bousnina Ben Ayed, founder of the space of the same name, told Arab News. “Design is now gaining importance in Tunisia. We want to promote designer items made in Tunisia. I always wanted to create bridges and connections with designers from all over the world.”

The exhibition, which runs until September 29, features specially commissioned pieces from six international designers.

They include Elias and Yousef Anastas from Palestine, French multidisciplinary designer Louis Barthelemy, Beirut-based Mary-Lynn Massoud and Georges Mohasseb, also from Beirut, and American Wolston, currently based in Medellin, Colombia.

The works have been temporarily placed among the ruins of Carthage for a preview of the exhibition and will later be moved to the gallery – a sleek new venue with white walls and high ceilings in the center of the city.

Designers were paired with local Tunisian artisans to create each project.

Tunisia has long been home to a vibrant artisan community. According to the Oxford Business Group, the country has around 350,000 artisans, mostly women, working mostly in marginalized communities where they contribute to the local economy.

These new pieces, which served to promote Tunisian craftsmanship, create a dialogue with the local industry and create new breathtaking works of contemporary design and are aimed at kick-starting the micro-economy in Tunisia.

“The group exhibition is a manifesto celebrating Tunisian culture, revitalizing and reinterpreting traditional craft practices through a series of unique collaborative commissions,” said Bellvance-Lecompte.

Mohasseb joined hands with Gharbya to make furniture from palm wood, a material notoriously difficult to work with due to its irregular grain and hard texture.

“The whole process was very exciting,” said Mohasseb, who regularly works with wood but had never worked with palm before.

Gharbya, Mohasseb said, is located eight hours from Tunis in the southwestern region of Tunisia, where the largest palm trees grow. “It was a challenge for all of us, but we were up to it.

He added: “While the parts are very simple in shape, they are difficult to manufacture in terms of connection and assembly. (Artisans) wanted to learn and explore and were open to the idea of ​​doing something different than what they had been doing for ages.”

The resulting pieces — bookshelves, a long bench, a table and chairs — came together, Mohasseb said, “in a real and humble way.”

Palestinian brothers Elias and Yousef created a series of stone tables whose irregular anamorphic shapes were created from computer modeling.

The pieces, which feature irregularly shaped pieces joined together without glue or cement, are an extension of their “Stone Matters” project, which explores the predominance of stone in Palestinian architecture. The resulting tables on view in the gallery were made by local Tunisian craftsman MDO.

Beirut-based Lebanese designer Massoud collaborated with local Tunisian ceramist Ali Kadher to create ceramic pieces called “Primordial Echoes” that honor and maintain the traditions of the Gafsa region of Tunisia.

The aim was to create variously shaped ceramic floor and table lamps and side tables that reflect the color and texture of Mohasseb's pieces of palm wood. It is worth noting how her works contain references to Tunisian tribal pottery.

Wolston, on the other hand, created 10 enticing colorful kilims with different geometric patterns. To make each one, Wolston worked with 10 weavers from the Le Kef region of northwestern Tunisia, who based their designs on drawings he created.

Also created in various textiles is “Hannon and the Mediterranean Mirage,” a tapestry by French designer Louis Barthelemy made with Tunisian Nejib Bel Haj that powerfully combines Tunisia's ancient history with contemporary stories from the Mediterranean.

The living tapestry contains a combination of figural and abstract depictions, including a depiction of the Carthaginian explorer Hannon from the sixth century BC.

It refers to his journeys across the Mediterranean as well as the bright orange life jackets reflecting the hardships of North African migrants crossing the Mediterranean in the hope of a new life.

The tapestries, as well as works specially created on the theme of “Carthaginism”, impressively combine tradition, ancient history and the present in the context of Tunisian heritage.