ALIFIYAH VALI
interior design
EXHIBITION
Forever COCO - life & legacy of Coco Chanel
in collaboration with Dema Alfreihi & Yoojeong Sally Oh
Coco Chanel wasn’t just ahead of her time. She was ahead of herself. The clothes she created changed the way women looked and how they looked at themselves.
Coco Chanel introduced the idea of “fashion to be functional” by breaking all the gender restrictions and confining corsets and crinolines in the 1920s, allowing women the freedom of movement and an expression of their individuality through fashion. In this exhibit visitors will experience the different moods of Coco’s personal life and how this influenced her journey in the fashion world. Visitors will also be introduced to Chanel’s concept of timeless fashion that continues to influence many fashion designers today.
DO YOU SEE ME? - a journey through homelessness
in collaboration with Dema Alfreihi & Yoojeong Sally Oh
There are over 600,000 homeless people in America and despite this large number, the general public often ignores this issue. It is usually assumed that homeless people choose to live on the street, and that they are either lazy, drug addicts or criminals. Within this exhibition, we set out to educate visitors by creating a journey through homelessness and allowing for a pause: to think, to feel, and to better understand the realities, struggles and stories of selected people living on the streets.
INTERIORS
Bike Box: café - storage - retail
in collaboration with Ha-na Lee & Niketa Shah
Bike lanes not only help solve the city’s transportation miseries, but also offer users a different way of taking in its streets and architecture, the fine-grained fabric of its neighborhoods. On a bike time bends; space expands and contracts. On a bike the city shrinks. Bike lanes are about urban livability, encouraging the sort of street culture that defines New York City. The Bike Box is a bike-in café & retail store, which offers safe storage solutions to encourage NYC's growing bike culture.
SAKURA - children's center in Minami Sanriku
in collaboration with Christina Chen & Tumay Gunaydin
The tsunami-devastated town of Minami Sanriku is located in the Motoyoshi district in Japan. The disaster caused massive damage to the fishing and forestry industry and also displaced many families, causing long term emotional trauma to survivors, especially children.
This Child Friendly Space is built out of repurposed salvaged wood and the fishing net weaving technique locally known by the community. The wood structure is built using traditional Japanese joinery technique; the varying heights of spaces create different volumes of light. The woven screens are used for interior elements such as storage units as well as playing elements and furniture for children.