Old City Coasters (set of 2)

Shireen Salman was born in Jerusalem in 1986. Design was in Shireen’s blood as her great grandfather was a jeweler, and the craft was passed down her family. Today, her father owns an antiquity shop. Shireen displayed great interest in drawing at an early age and developed it over the years. She built her skills and finetuned them in school by building furniture and designing the cover of the school magazine. She graduated from Al Ahliyya University in Amman with a degree in interior design, and afterwards moved back to Jerusalem where she aimed to be an active contributor to design in Palestine. She worked in interior design offices, and it was during that time that she discovered she likes making crafts. From there, she went on to design lampshades and ceramic tables.
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Characterized by Palestinian pride and heritage, Shireen’s work often employs elements native to Palestine. Her philosophy lies in taking the traditional and reinterpreting and presenting it in a modern way while also producing high quality products. The craftiness of olive wood and ceramics have been sources of inspiration for Shireen. They do not only spark ideas for her design but she also them in her final products.
Employing an eclectic approach to choosing the material she works with, Shireen uses versatile materials such as steel, ceramics and wood. Her products are handcrafted and custom-made. Each item she creates is is a collector’s item and is one of a kind. Thus, she seeks out to use high-quality material and chooses to work with craftsmen who are top in their field and pay much attention to detail. These masters of their craft have plentiful experience and produce polished work [fine-finishing]. The work process is a back and forth one, where Shireen comes up with the idea of the design and collaborates with the artisans to produce one of a kind work that involves no mass-produced material.

Salman’s work spans from residential and commercial interior design, such as kitchens, living rooms, offices, coffee shops, and laboratory hospitals, to pieces of furniture, lighting, ceramics, and pattern design.