2nd FRANCESCO Newsletter: what are you made of?

“in this world where we are in, where everybody is texting on their phone all the time.. when you can get somebody to stop for just 5 seconds and look at something it feels like quiet an achievement “

Sn?hetta co-founder CRAIG EDWARD DYKERS

Dear friends,

as many of you might know I lived in Saudi Arabia for almost 5 years, more precisely in Al Khobar in the Eastern Region.

Everyday I used to wake up pretty early, have a shower, dress up and have breakfast with a lovely zatar bread served by the?pakhala?right in front of my compound (for who has never been in Saudi a pakhala is a small dirty shop where you can literally find anything).?

Anyway, clean and well fed I used to jump on my super Toyota Camry, direction DAMMAM Second Industrial City and just after a few kilometres of “racing” in the traffic the incredible?King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture (Ithra)?would appear.

The building was under construction, but the facade was already completed and for literally 3 years every morning I used to ask myself:?what are you made of?

Finally the inauguration day came, luckily I found the way to access and with great surprise I discovered that the whole facade was made of?stainless steel pipes! Each and every one bent with its own curvature!

I’ll never forget the day of the inauguration and not only for the pipe surprise. The?atmosphere?that I breathed that day inside the venue is difficult to describe: people were astonished, happy, calm and relaxed. I believe that day marked the beginning of the new Saudi!

CULTURE IS POWER ??