Fez – The exhibition treats the designed object as a living link between maker and world. Wood, clay, leather, metal, resin, and textiles become languages through which contemporary life is re-imagined without severing ties to memory and place. The curatorial thrust is meant to return to the founding gesture while speaking in a modern voice.
Jamil Bennani moves nimbly across media, with wood as a central ally and medium in his work. His organic forms balance structure and lightness, rewarding close attention to detail. In parallel, Leïla Billon works with materials marked by history, reviving endangered techniques and enriching them with motifs learned elsewhere to keep a shared memory in motion.
Reda Bouamrani focuses on the essence of form. His precise, restrained objects avoid spectacle and favor timeless clarity, conversing with Morocco’s artisanal heritage through measured lines. Younes Duret aligns aesthetics with use, designing pieces that merge comfort and function while drawing on Moroccan references that fit easily into today’s interiors.
Hicham El Madi stages a dialogue between Moroccan craft and reclaimed objects. His “ethnic chic” approach marries new technologies with ancestral skills to sketch out a durable, future-oriented design language. Marwane Haddioui rethinks ceramics by coupling clay with leather and silk thread, producing work that feels both sensitive and well-structured — where tradition meets invention.
A literary collaboration adds a playful counterpoint. Author and artist Youssouf Amine Elalamy reimagines the playing-card deck through Bennani’s creations, tapping into collective imagination and reframing a familiar object through the lens of design and storytelling.
The display unfolds as an immersive path. Each piece suggests a lived space where memory meets modernity, matter meets spirit, and the everyday is gently transformed by the intelligence of the hand. Visitors are invited to slow down, look closely, and consider how the making of an object shapes the way we live with it.
“ÉLOGE DU GESTE” runs from November 4 to December 2 at Galerie Abla Ababou, 57 Avenue Mehdi Ben Barka, Souissi, Rabat, featuring designers Jamil Bennani, Leïla Billon, Réda Bouamrani, Younes Duret, Hicham El Madi, Marwane Haddioui, and a collaboration between Bennani and Youssouf Amine Elalamy.
