Reading Room showcases breadth of Islamic civilisation in United Kingdom

This summer, Intersections 2.0 transforms the public realm in Folkestone, UK, into a site of civic memory, cultural exchange, and creative authorship. Conceived by SD Projects, a Folkestone-based studio led by artist and sculptor Simon Davenport, and developed in collaboration with architect Shahed Saleem and artist Farwa Moledina and to run till October 26 with a key contribution from photographer Mahtab Hussain, the project in Folkestone’s Creative Quarter centres around a purpose-built Reading Room.

Both a place of study and community gathering, Reading Room brings together more than 200 books and 300 artefacts relating to Islamic architecture, visual culture, and diasporic heritage. The material has been sourced with the support of multiple organisations, including the Arab British Centre, the Mosaic Rooms, SOAS, Saqi Books and reflects a mix of scholarly, lived, and inherited knowledge.

Intersections 2.0 refers to different projects and initiatives, including a mentorship programme for young graduates in Lebanon and the Reading Room exhibition in Folkestone, focusing on Islamic architecture and culture. The Reading Room collection spans languages, disciplines, and cultural traditions, offering academic texts alongside personal ephemera.

The Reading Room with curtains and carpet.

Contributors include SOAS, Saqi Books, Folkestone Museum, King’s College London, and Professor Anthony Downey. A notable inclusion is rare Festival of Islam (1976) film material, donated by the Al Tajir Trust. Folkestone is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England.

Reading Room’s design was born from a series of workshops with the local community. “Each element within the space is a collaborative act,” said architect Shahed Saleem, who, along with local participants, designed the modular furniture, consisting of low seating, reading benches, archival display units and a large central table. All furniture pieces are made from Valchromat, a dense wood fibre board made from forestry waste and dyed with natural pigments. “Their surfaces are engraved with Islamic motifs, such as the Rub-el-Hizb and crescent moon, alongside patterns designed by unaccompanied minors from KRAN (Kent Refugee Action Network) during a workshop at Samphire Hoe – a coastal nature reserve formed from Channel Tunnel spoil.

“There, the group envisioned designs inspired by rare native species, from spider orchids to sea cabbage – living symbols of survival and adaptation,” Shahed Saleem said. The seating is upholstered in custom fabrics designed by Farwa Moledina in collaboration with local women from Folkestone and Dover. “The design draws on personal references shared during pattern-making sessions: heirlooms, architectural details, and memories from past lives in countries spanning Algeria to Afghanistan,” Farwa Moledina said.

“Together, the furniture and upholstery form more than functional seating: they become civic artefacts, inscribed with shared memory and made through acts of collective authorship,” Simon Davenport noted. Mounted on a mirrored wall are family portraits by Mahtab Hussain, featuring members of the Bengali Muslim community who helped establish the Folkestone Islamic Cultural Centre. They are shown alongside photographs taken during Eid al-Adha 2025, when more than 700 Muslims gathered for prayer in East Kent.

Simon Davenport (left) and Farwa Moledina.

The images reflect back at visitors, echoing the room’s invitation to see and be seen, to learn and belong. Reading Room also explores new approaches to materiality. “Three large wall tiles have been cast in ‘kelpcrete’, a seaweed-based, regenerative composite developed by SD Projects using kelp harvested from the Kent coast. Produced through local workshops, the tiles combine Islamic geometric compositions with botanical silhouettes, linking the installation to both local ecologies and SD Projects’ ongoing material research supported by Arts Council England and Notpla,” Simon Davenport said.

For Intersections 2.0, community participants created patterns that were cast into three 600mm-square kelpcrete tiles, connecting ecological awareness and shared authorship. By grounding Islamic heritage in local experiences and collaborative making, Intersections 2.0 provides a civic space where culture is lived, authored, and exchanged. A dedicated symposium takes place on September 5, expanding the project’s themes through film, discussion, and hands-on making.

The programme includes a screening of Three Colours Green, a documentary film trilogy by architect and artist Shahed Saleem in collaboration with filmmaker James Wainman. Commissioned by the William Morris Gallery, the work offers a detailed portrait of Waltham Forest’s community, situating everyday life, architecture, and collective memory within a broader discourse on visibility and belonging in contemporary Britain. The programme will also feature talks and discussions, and a kelpcrete design workshop, inviting participants to explore the project’s innovative material research. Intersections 2.0 builds on a decade of work by SD Projects. Since 2015, the studio has developed long-term, reciprocal relationships with Muslim communities in East Kent. The journey began with Minaret (2017), a co-created public artwork with Hoy Cheong Wong and Folkestone Islamic Cultural Centre.

In 2021, SD presented Nūr at the Creative Folkestone Triennial, a large-scale installation with architect Shahed Saleem and artist Hoy Cheong Wong that brought Islamic visual language into public space. It was followed by Intersections 1.0, a programme of workshops and design training rooted in Islamic aesthetics. In 2022–23, SD Projects delivered the detailed design and fabrication for Shahed Saleem’s Ramadan Pavilion at the V&A Museum. “Intersections is a pocket utopia. It channels the imaginative power of art to refill our reservoirs of hope,” said Hammad Nasar, art curator and writer. Founded by artist and sculptor Simon Davenport, SD Projects is a multidisciplinary studio working at the intersection of design, social practice, and material innovation. The studio partners with major institutions such as Tate, the V&A, and UAL, while remaining embedded in local contexts.