The art of taking things slowly
In the studio with Xeina Malki, theDubai-based ceramicist who hopes to change the way ceramics are perceived.
By Anna Seaman
“I am a designer, not an artist,” says Xeina Malki, sitting in her bright and airy ceramics studio on Dubai’s Al Wasl Road. “One is not better than the other, but they are not the same. Of course there are crossovers but, for me, ceramics is most definitely a design practice.”
Malki and her partner, Zade Ismael, opened their design studio, Slo, in early 2021 to create small-batch collections of high-quality ceramic products in the form of tableware, plant pots, and furniture. They are young—in their 20s—and ambitious but refreshingly dedicated to their time-consuming material.
“Clay is an unforgiving medium,” Ismael says. “If you try to do anything quicker than you are supposed to, more often than not, it goes wrong. You can’t bully it, and therefore it is a slow process.”
This slowness, which is part of the reasoning behind their studio’s name, is a rare quality in today’s frenetic world. On a creative level, slowness allows time for ideas to flourish and form; on a practical level, ceramics work requires many hours of patience. Malki begins by sitting at the wheel to throw the clay and mould the object. This process can be repeated multiple times whilst the object—be it a plate, cup or plant pot—is perfected. A piece of dinnerware needs to be weighted properly, shaped to hold its contents, adjusted to the right thickness so as not to conduct too much heat and also be ergonomically correct to ensure the consumer can use it easily. To get it right takes time. Once the prototype is ready, then it needs to be fired up to 1000 degrees Celsius in the kiln and left two to three days to cool. Next comes glazing, a process that can also be repeated. So, there is no doubt, the results are not instant.
“When I’m on the wheel, naturally I’m shaping the piece but I’m also looking at the inside of it and thinking about where the liquid will pool and how that will affect the user. It is never just a cup for the sake of it being a cup. It has to be the best cup it can be,” she says.
“If you go to an architect’s office, you would never show them a picture and ask them to replicate a building. No, you would appreciate their skill set.”
This is where the differentiation between design and art comes in. What drives Malki in her practice is the joy of designing and making something that will be used for a specific purpose. One of Slo’s regular clients is Solemann Haddad, a fellow graduate from the American University of Sharjah and co-founder of Moonrise, an intimate chef’s table restaurant on the rooftop of Eden House in Dubai. Haddad’s delicate creations are works of art; hand-crafted tableware, commissioned specifically, complements the beautifully presented cuisine. Malki’s eyes light up when she talks about this project, revealing her purpose: to establish ceramics as a well-respected design practice.
“Our mission is to change the way people perceive ceramics,” she explains. “Ever since I graduated [in 2015] I noticed that the perception of ceramics is that it is something people do for a hobby. Most of the studios that you see in Dubai are geared towards entertaining people with lessons for fun—but with Slo, we are hoping to change that. What we want to offer is a product that is genuinely tested, fit for purpose in a way that honours the material.”
The studio, in a former villa in Dubai’s low-rise Jumeirah district, is thoughtfully fitted out with clean, eggshell textured, monochrome walls, and a manicured yet natural finish, almost like sitting inside one of Malki’s ceramic creations.
“If you go to an architect’s office, you would never show them a picture and ask them to replicate a building. No, you would appreciate their skill set,” she explains. “But we often find that people assume ceramics is a craft and therefore we can do whatever they want rather than trusting us to design and produce something well made. Our goal is to eventually build a showroom, which will automatically demand respect. I do really care about changing the way the practice is perceived.”
So far, their clients are mostly cafés, restaurants, boutiques, and gift shops. They have also spent several months working with Staybridge Suites, a brand of residential-style hotels within the InterContinental Group that targets long-term guests. For that client, Slo made custom plant pots with distinctive scalloped edging. Several similar pieces populate the studio’s third floor, which is dedicated to new prototypes.
“In design in general but particularly with ceramics, the best way to think is by doing things with your hands,” Malki says. “So, when you see many versions of the same thing, you can see my thought process revealed in prototypes.”
The process that the pair are taking now is design and development, not just of their products but of the business itself. The studio feels more intimate than a manufacturing location or a place of production. In fact, Ismael describes it as a home. One that welcomes visitors—they have a small ice-cream café on the ground floor at the entrance—but also one that will nurture them and the business itself.
“We wanted a space to be able to produce bespoke, quality, handmade designs but at the same time we wanted to have a home for the business that would be welcoming, visually aesthetic and a place for us all to grow,” he says.
“We want to get to a point where people can come in, look at our range of products and make their orders from here,” continues Malki. “Once we have a steady base, we also want to develop our own line of furniture and lighting.”
Malki and Ismael—who are partners in life as well as in business—are clear about the direction they want to move in.
“We have a vision but we cannot rush it. We take a long time to make decisions and to choose the right people to join our team. We know we want to move in the direction of producing consistent, high-quality, handmade collections in a scale that we feel comfortable with,” Ismael says.
Photographs by Siddarth Siva
