From Waste to Wonder at VCUarts Qatar Year End Show 2025

MFA graduate student, Yasamin Shaikhi’s food waste renaissance showcased at VCUarts Qatar’s Year End Show, Art and Design Now 2025.

In the midst of digital installations, powerful storytelling grounded on Qatar’s rich past, experimental textiles, and kinetic sculptures at this year’s Art and Design Now 2025 exhibition from VCUarts Qatar MFA/BFA Final Year end projects, one project stands out for its quiet yet powerful message of transformation and sustainability.

Yasamin Shaikhi, a graduating MFA student, presented Food Waste Renaissance: From the Table, for the Table — a material-driven design exploration that turns rice and date byproducts into biodegradable design objects, such as organic, beautifully textured lamps.

Unfolding over months of hands-on experimentation, Yasamin’s project challenges conventional ideas around waste and sustainability. “The goal was never to solve food waste on a large scale,” she says. “Instead, I wanted to reframe how we perceive waste—transforming it from something discarded into something that holds value. Rather than solving large-scale waste issues, it encourages a shift in how we perceive food waste — as a resource rather than refuse — supporting a circular economy.”

Her fascination with materiality sparked the idea. Merging a passion for natural elements with design thinking, Yasamin began reimagining how food byproducts — specifically those common in Qatar — could be turned into useful, aesthetically engaging objects. Rice and date pits, often considered remnants of consumption, became her core ingredients.

Fascinated by the process of material formation, Yasamin explored various permutations and combinations as she arrived at her final product. “I was drawn to this approach because I value the process of material formation and how each material expresses itself uniquely. Working with food waste allowed me to explore its hidden potential and give it a new voice. I wanted to reframe food waste not as something discarded, but as something with value—returning it to the table in a new form, rather than letting it end up in a landfill,” she stresses.

Choosing this unconventional medium was an intentional act of storytelling. “Food waste is often seen as disposable. But when you touch it, mould it, and design with it, it gains a new voice,” she says.

Testing Times

The process was anything but simple. Through rigorous testing of different mixtures and binders, she studied eight distinct characteristics of her experimental material: from shrinkage and translucency to adhesion and warping. Each discovery played a direct role in shaping the final designs. “Translucency, for example, led me to explore lighting applications,” Yasamin explains. “And the organic warping and texture of the material helped me embrace an unpredictability that actually enriched the aesthetic.”

Of course, the process had its challenges. Yasamin admits to underestimating how environmental factors like humidity and temperature could impact the material’s behavior. But instead of viewing these variables as setbacks, she leaned into them. “This project taught me patience,” she reflects. “And how to listen to the material rather than control it.”

“Looking back, I’m most proud of embracing the material’s unpredictability and using it to shape a design that feels both intentional and organic,” says Yasamin as she created lampshades to acquire a shape it naturally attained.

That attitude—a blend of curiosity, resilience, and deep respect for materiality—is precisely what the Year End Show at VCUarts Qatar celebrates.

Featuring works by students of MFA and BFA across multiple disciplines, from Kinetic Imaging to Graphic Design, the exhibition is a testament to VCUarts Qatar’s commitment to pushing creative boundaries and addressing global concerns through artistic practice.

Looking ahead, Yasamin sees this project as the beginning of a longer journey. “It changed how I think and how I create,” she says. “It’s no longer just about choosing a material for its appearance. It’s about understanding how it behaves, how it evolves, and how it can lead the design rather than just follow it.”

In a world overwhelmed by excess and disposability, Food Waste Renaissance is a quiet revolution—one that starts not in factories or policy rooms, but at the kitchen table.