Spend enough time speaking with Nada Debs and one subject invariably resurfaces: craft. Not as nostalgia, nor as a preservation exercise, but as something alive – an evolving language that connects people, places and traditions.
It is a philosophy that has shaped the Beirut-born designer's practice for decades, informing everything from her collectible furniture and interiors to her collaborations with global luxury houses and cultural institutions. Now it finds a new expression in WA Collective, a platform dedicated to contemporary craftsmanship, cultural exchange and collaboration. Unveiled at the Nada Debs Boutique in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, the initiative brings together artisans and designers from around the world through a curated programme of handcrafted works and collections.
The name itself reflects Debs' long-standing dialogue between cultures. Wa means “and” in Arabic and “harmony” in Japanese, encapsulating the cross-cultural exchanges that have long informed her work. Raised in Japan before later reconnecting with her Arab heritage, Debs has spent much of her career navigating the space between different cultural traditions, using craft as a common language through which they can meet. Rather than operating as a traditional gallery, the collective is conceived as a platform where makers' individual voices are amplified, creating conversations around craft, materiality and the role of the human hand in contemporary design.
“The WA Collective was born from years of travel and encounters with artisans and designers whose practices carry stories of place, culture and identity,” says Debs. “Through this platform, I hope to create meaningful exchanges that celebrate craftsmanship not as something static, but as something living and continually evolving.”
The collective debuts with Traces, a collection of matte ceramic vessels by Beirut-based ceramist Lina Shamma. Developed in dialogue with Debs, the series explores the meeting point between Shamma's intuitive ceramic language and Debs' geometric design vocabulary.
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The collection traces its origins to Uzbekistan, where photographs taken by Shamma of Islamic architecture, mosaics and arabesque tilework became the basis for the decals applied across the surfaces of bowls and vases. Drawn from a visual tradition rooted in symmetry and order, the motifs are deliberately fragmented and repositioned off-grid, creating a tension between precision and spontaneity.
Each piece is either hand-built or wheel-thrown, resulting in subtle variations in form and surface. The matte finishes, irregular silhouettes and scattered geometric fragments lend the collection a sense of movement, as though architectural memories have been carried across landscapes and reassembled by hand.
For Shamma, the collaboration offered an opportunity to explore the relationship between discipline and freedom. “Being part of the WA Collective felt like a natural extension of my conversations with Nada,” she says. “Through this collection, I was able to explore the relationship between Nada's intricate geometric language and my own intuitive approach to ceramics, allowing the work to exist somewhere between discipline and spontaneity.”
As WA Collective begins its programme, Traces sets the tone for what Debs hopes the platform will become: a space where contemporary craft is not simply displayed, but placed into conversation – between cultures, makers and ways of seeing.
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