Preservation and Exchange the Saudi Cultural Identity Through the Interior Design of Arts and Crafts Centers

Abstract

Arts are surrounded humans—whether they realize this or not—where they used to be involved in this creative process of building things into existence. Indeed, the process of crafting is a historical heritage and a symbol that comes from any nation’s culture. Despite the rich diversity in Saudi culture and its various arts, it has recently begun to appear larger and wider. This is mainly due to the growing awareness within the Kingdom and the increased presence in many regional and international cultural events. In harmony with the architectural idea, the interior design of the arts and crafts centers is the core environment to exchange culture and art expression and preserve and modernize those arts and crafts. These centers usually include handmade crafts exhibitions and provide workshops for pottery, wood, textiles, and fine arts. So, this paper aims to highlight the role of the interior design of these types of centers as the environment to preserve and exchange the culture, focusing on traditional arts and handicrafts. The paper is mainly based on the qualitative approach, which starts with the literature review and discussing the practicing, studying, and demanding the arts and crafts, then analyzing two different examples of the social-cultural and the handicrafts centers, then ends with a survey study to investigate the Saudis’ subjective points of view about this kind of centers.