The Studio
Architecture
as Object
Kawn Designs is an Amman-based studio creating collectible furniture and objects through the lens of architecture.
The studio looks beyond buildings to the ideas that shape them: geometry, proportion, structure, and the relationship between material and place. These ideas take on new possibilities at the scale of an object—a pair of tables finding balance through the space between them, a bench composed through repetition, a familiar arch reconsidered in another material.
Rooted in the Levant, Kawn draws on the built environments, craft traditions and everyday forms of the region. Its objects hold memory without becoming replicas, giving familiar references a contemporary expression.
Each object carries an idea, translated into something to live with and return to. Memory remains present, open to new interpretation.
Our Approach
Kawn’s practice is built on close relationships—with local craftspeople in Jordan, with our clients, and with the place we call home.
Our designs develop through an exchange with local craftspeople, whose knowledge of materials and making helps shape each piece, from the first idea to the details that give it its character.
That same care shapes our relationship with clients. We take time to understand the person, the space, and what draws them to a piece. The experience is personal, reflecting the intimacy of the objects themselves and the warmth and hospitality of the studio’s roots.
Our pieces are made to order, with selected designs offered in limited editions or as one-off works.
The Designer
Rama Akel
Architect & Founder
Rama Akel is the founder of Kawn Designs, an Amman-based studio exploring architecture at the scale of furniture. Her work brings an architect’s attention to structure and proportion to objects shaped by personal references, material exploration and everyday encounters.
She founded Intelligent Design in 2003, developing a practice in architecture and interior design. Alongside this work, she designed individual pieces of furniture for clients, responding to the needs, constraints and character of each space. She holds a master’s degree in interior design from Goldsmiths. In 2019, she established Kawn Designs, giving her furniture practice a dedicated home.
Raised in Amman by Palestinian parents, Rama draws on both the material character of the city and a heritage carried through poetry, song and embroidery. These influences inform her attention to pattern, repetition and the ways objects hold memory.
Her work allows those origins to remain present while leaving room for new meanings in the lives and spaces of others.
