Online event, May 15, 2025 at 12 noon Eastern Time (9 am Pacific Time, 5 pm UK time)
“Gender, Identity, and Resistance: Strategies and Methodologies of Women Designers on the Edge” explores how women designers have challenged invisibility and redefined cultural narratives. From Safia Farhat’s role in post-independence Tunisia to the Wiki Women Design project and the recognition of Turkish interior architects, this session highlights strategies of visibility, resistance, and methodological approaches to recovering overlooked contributions.
Safia Farhat’s tapestry: exploring identity and resistance (Maria Oliver).
This text highlights the overlooked role and significance of Tunisian artist, tapestry designer, educator, and activist Safia Farhat, exploring how her initiatives fostered social and cultural transformations in post-independence Tunisia, particularly in relation to national identity, tourism development, and personal rights legislation
Making Women Designers Googleable. The methodology behind the Flanders Architetcture Intitute Wiki WomenDesign Project (Zsuzsanna Böröcz).
This text describes the Wiki Women Design project, launched in 2020 by the Flanders Architecture Institute, which aims to enhance the recognition of women designers in Belgium by expanding their presence on Wikipedia. The initiative helped break the cycle of invisibility, resulting in a 7.5% increase in related articles by 2023.
Modern interior architects in Turkey: a focus on women (Deniz Hasirci, Zeynep Tuna Ultav, Melis Örnekoğlu-Selçuk and Deniz Avci).
This study aims to highlight women designers who have made significant breakthroughs in furniture and interior design in Turkey, shedding light on their often underestimated contributions. Focusing on four female figures and employing the oral history method, it contributes to both national and international recognition of their work.
About the presenters
Maria Isabel Oliver, a Master of Architecture graduate from Columbia University, is an Assistant Professor at the American University of Sharjah. Her research explores the intersection between modern architectural discourses and production in the Global South. Her current research focuses on the networks of modernization in the United Arab Emirates.
Zsuzsanna Böröcz PhD is an art and architecture historian. Her research primarily focuses on interior and design-related topics within the context of heritage conservation, craftsmanship, and art education in the 19th and 20th centuries. She serves as a guest professor at VU Amsterdam and is a researcher affiliated with the KU Leuven and the UAntwerpen. Additionally, she is President of Docomomo Belgium and Co-Chair of the Specialist Committee on Interior Design at Docomomo International.
Prof. Dr. Deniz Hasirci specializes in Turkish modern furniture and environment-behavior at Izmir University of Economics. She is a Fulbright scholar, former IUE-IAED department head, IUE Design Studies graduate program head, member of The Chamber of Interior Architects-Turkey, committee member of DOCOMOMO ISC-ID and DOCOMOMO Tr-Interiors (founding), and project co-coordinator of DATUMM – Documenting and Archiving Turkish Modern Furniture.
