THE Stone globe
Project: Disarming Design From Palestine Create-Shop
Designers: Birte Veenkamp (NL), Monika Gruzite (LV) , Areej Ashhab (PS)
Year of design: 2015.
Materials: Stone, glass, and concrete
Size: 7.5*7.5*10
One hundred and one years ago, the British Mandate enacted stone-cladding regulations in Jerusalem, freezing it in time as a "precious rock" and feeding into the biblical image of the city. These regulations are still valid today in Jerusalem leading to a huge footprint of the stone industry on the landscape and the economy of the occupied Palestinian territories. THE STONE GLOBE is an interactive product where the user can reshape the mountains of Palestine by dismantling and reassembling them inside the globe when shaking it. Inside the glass bubble are different types of stones collected from the quarries in the West Bank- the destroyed hills that construct the stone-covered buildings of Jerusalem. While the stones are slowly floating down the globe, we're able to watch the landscape assembled in different forms each time it is shaken. The square-shaped concrete base reveals the main structural material of buildings in the area of Jerusalem masked by a thin layer of stone. THE STONE GLOBE is inspired from snow globes of famous landmarks sold in touristic shops, however it includes no central piece on top of which the stone falls. The stone rather works both as the landmark and the floating material. THE STONE GLOBE points out at changes and possibilities in the limited and constrained settings of Palestine. It also puts the light on the environmental issues of quarrying practices in the West Bank overshadowed by Jerusalem's holiness.