Bahraini creative Salman Al Najem is bringing the Khaleeji spirit to bags around the Gulf with handmade pocket-sized charms.
The 33-year-old artist took inspiration from his A97AB (pronounced as-haab and translated from Arabic as ‘friends’) plushie dolls to create a new couple - this time donning a bisht and mukhawar.
“It was a way to portray and display another aspect of Khaleeji culture,” he told GulfWeekly.
The dolls were handmade in Agra, India, and the process took about eight months of back and forth till it was perfected.
The first release earlier this year sold out, and Salman decided to make the 16.5-by-6cm-by-2cm dolls.
“A97AB is back again with handmade bag-charms keychains,” he added.
“A97AB is a gentle call to smile and point at relatable figures that represent our shared Khaleeji culture, people and family.
“The pair of dolls intend to act as a visual representation of Khaleeji people; in a light-heartedly fun way, evoking feelings of friendship, love and belonging.”
The original A97AB dolls were exhibited during the SIKKA Art fair in Dubai, where art lovers also had a chance to spice up their interiors with mini-versions of the dolls.
“I had created these characters originally in 2019 in the form of rugs, made of 100 per cent New Zealand wool, and then later made solid gold necklaces with them,” he had said at the time.
“This time I wanted to create something more accessible, so came up with these smaller plushie dolls.
“I have exhibited the extra-large dolls in previous exhibitions and when the factory that made them had sent me a miniature sample of the dolls, I knew I would want to release them as such at some point.”
Beyond their visual appeal, A97AB are a reminder of what connects human beings, highlighting how relationships create cohesion within communities, with the lighthearted design encouraging engagement rather than just a ‘hands-off’ spectacle.
Salman graduated with a Master’s degree in fine art from the Royal College of Art in London, and a Bachelor’s degree in interior and spatial design from the University of the Arts London.
For more details, follow @smnajem and @_a97ab_ on Instagram.
