Adornment and Identity in Spatial Design and Objects This joint session between DEMHIST and DESIGN (formerly ICDAD) explores adornment in domestic environments as a form of personal expression and cultural identity, as seen in museum architecture, collections, and display. It invites papers on house museums, decorative objects, ornament, and interior design, considering how domestic interiors reflect identity, aesthetics, social roles, and historical context across time and place. Period rooms, furnishings, and objects reveal both individual tastes and broader artistic movements. Papers that engage with one or more of the ICOM Dubai 2025 subthemes of “intangible heritage,” “youth power,” and “new technologies” are especially welcome. Topics might include sustaining craft traditions, engaging younger generations with historic design, and using digital tools to reinterpret or present domestic spaces. With perspectives from both DEMHIST and DESIGN, the session aims to foster cross-disciplinary dialogue on how domestic adornment shapes and reflects lived experience and how museums preserve and share these narratives with the public. ——————– Session B-7 DESIGN & DEMHIST Adornment and Identity in Spatial Design and Objects 12 November, 2:45 – 4:15 PM (Dubai time) Sheikh Rashid Hall B Presentations Arianna VALLARINO (Project Manager and Curator Educator, Museo della Ceramica di Savona and Casa Museo Jorn), “The House Museum as a Witness to the Contemporary World” Brianna BRINKLEY (Cultuurfonds-funded Research Residency, Museo Sant’Orsola), “Between Ruin and Renovation: Museo Sant’Orsola as Exhibition Space” Nicole VAN DIJK (Founder and Director, Stichting Wijkcollectie/District Heritage Collection Foundation), “The Ornament of Lombardijen: Adornment as Collective Identity and Civic Ritual” Melissa RINNE (Senior Specialist, Kyoto National Museum), “Nineteenth Century Japanese Textiles and the Western Interior” Anika REINEKE (Curator of Textiles, Decorative and Applied Arts and the Henry van de Velde Museum, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz), “Seeing the Maker: Engaging with the Spirit of Villa Esche Then and Now” Moderators Alexander Belousev (DEMHIST Board Member and Head of Publishing Department, Peterhof Museum) Denise HAGSTRÖMER (DESIGN Board Member and Senior Curator of Design at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design) Timna Seligman (DEMHIST Chair and Senior Curator, Ticho House) Milja Stijovic (DEMHIST Vice Chair and Senior Curator, Yugoslav Film Archive)