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Watch out Bahrain, designer Muna Yateem has launched a unique range of digital timepieces to add to her Haraka range.
The entrepreneurial 25-year-old Bahraini displayed her new Digital Mix Collection of fashionable watches and accessories at a special pop-up store at the Yateem Centre last weekend.
Muna said: “I came up with the idea for the new collection when I was in New York and I noticed everyone was wearing the same black or metallic metal watches on the subway. So, I thought of creating a colourful collection of digital watches with patterns that are very Haraka.
“The digital watches have an alarm, stopwatch and a fun feature which we call our ‘disco lights’ in which you can change the lights of the watch to various colours. Also, the faces and straps can be mixed according to one’s preference.”
The unveiling of the new collection saw the store in the Yateem Centre decked out with merchandise bearing moustache silhouettes, the logo for the Haraka design.
Muna designed the shop herself, taking inspiration from Bahrain’s old souq. She transformed the store into a ‘coldstore’ for her products and accessories range, complete with stocked shelves, sweets and a hidden changing room behind the refrigerator.
The name Haraka comes from a common phrase in Bahrain, when something has that cool factor they say that’s a ‘haraka’ or ‘harakat’ which roughly translates to you’ve got cool moves.
“We see our products as affordable luxuries, so we try to price them reasonably. This collection is digital and it also is customisable and I believe there is something for everyone,” Muna added.
Visitors flocked to the store, which offers a range of different brightly-coloured T-shirts, caps and watch designs, which cost from BD20.
The former Bayan School pupil studied interior and spatial design at Chelsea College, University of the Arts London, and her masters in urban design at University College London, before returning to her family home to set up the business venture, which was featured in GulfWeekly shortly after its launch.
Her parents Ali and Shirley Yateem are ‘extremely proud’ of her achievements. She also has three sisters – Hala, 33, who runs an interior design store, Nada, 32, who operates a flower shop, and university student Fatima, 22.
For more information, visit www.haraka.com
