Founded in 2015 under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, Chairperson of the Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council, Irthi was established to build a professional ecosystem for Emirati craftswomen and link heritage with global design platforms.
Over the past ten years, the council has put into practice the UAE’s cultural policies, which integrate heritage—including crafts—into economic and social development. Irthi has not only preserved “talli”, “safeefah”, “faroukha” and other distinctive local crafts, but has also turned them into sustainable programmes of training, production and documentation.
To mark Eid Al Etihad, Irthi organised a series of workshops, including a “talli and leather keychain workshop” and a “safeefah bookmark workshop”, in collaboration with Sharjah Museums Authority, Sharjah Roads and Transport Authority and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority. Led by a group of Emirati craftswomen, the workshops introduced participants to the value of national crafts, their role in fostering the spirit of the Union, and passed these skills to younger generations in an interactive and innovative way.
Building a global network in ten years
Within a decade, Irthi has grown from a local initiative into an institution with one of the region’s largest craftswomen networks, operating through an integrated system of training, production and development. Its network expanded to more than 640 craftswomen by May 2025, and it built a cultural and professional presence in 13 countries through collaborative projects and knowledge-exchange programmes.
In 2024 alone, Irthi held more than 60 workshops attended by nearly 1,400 participants. In 2025, it established more than five new strategic partnerships with global design institutions and craft markets, and took part in over seven international and local events from Sharjah to London, Basel and Moscow. Its latest participation was at “Nomad Abu Dhabi 2025”, organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi in collaboration with the global Nomad fair, where Irthi presented Emirati crafts as a cultural language that connects local heritage with global design.
These achievements reflect Irthi’s evolution into a fully structured institution encompassing systematic training, advanced production, international marketing, knowledge documentation and cross-border cultural collaboration.
From traditional crafts to the global creative economy
Irthi has shown how traditional crafts can be transformed into part of the global creative economy. Through artistic product lines inspired by Emirati heritage—such as Taif, Moy, Telad, Nadd and Safra—it has reimagined local aesthetics in contemporary forms suited to international design markets.
This development has been supported by high-profile collaborations with brands including Bulgari, Cartier, Asprey and Design Miami, placing the work of Emirati craftswomen on prestigious global platforms. Emirati crafts have also gained visibility at major exhibitions such as “Maison des Exceptions” in Paris, London Design Week and Dubai Design Week, reinforcing their place as a modern, competitive and inspiring cultural component.
Through these efforts, Irthi contributes to the UAE’s vision of strengthening non-traditional sectors within the national economy.
Irthi and cultural memory
Alongside its professional and production roles, Irthi contributes to documenting the UAE’s cultural memory by building an accurate knowledge base of crafts that have shaped national identity. The council has issued specialised research works including Palm Fibres, Natural Dye Making, Itr, Recipes for the Future and Engineering Culture. These provide scientific insight into Emirati crafts, chart their evolution and explain their links to the country’s social and economic life.
Irthi has also expanded its initiatives to include embroidery workshops from Emirati, Palestinian, Jordanian and Pakistani traditions, creating a cultural exchange space that reconnects crafts with their historical contexts and places them within a broader network of regional skills. In this way, Irthi becomes a platform that not only develops skills but also preserves national memory and safeguards the narrative of the Union through documenting heritage that has accompanied the UAE’s journey since its founding.
“Irthi Museum”: Achievements shaped by the Union’s spirit
Irthi is now progressing towards a major milestone with the planned opening of the Irthi Museum in 2029. This project will transform the Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council into a permanent cultural reference in the field of Emirati crafts. The museum will document the history of crafts, present their visual and technical evolution, and provide academic resources for researchers and specialists, placing Emirati heritage within a global context of creative industries. It represents the shift from individual initiatives to an institutional structure that preserves craft heritage and opens new horizons for it.
Through this comprehensive path, Irthi embodies the spirit of the Union: a project rooted in identity as a national asset, investing in people as the centre of development, and transforming cultural heritage into social and economic value.
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