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MCAST × Temasek Polytechnic

Valletta Design Cluster

The Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) is Malta’s leading vocational education and training institution, with its Institute for the Creative Arts offering programmes across art, design and the wider creative industries. Temasek Polytechnic is a leading institution of higher learning in Singapore, with its School of Design providing practice-led education across a range of design disciplines. Both institutions place strong emphasis on hands-on learning, industry engagement and developing creative practice, providing students with the skills and experience to respond to contemporary challenges and pursue careers within the evolving creative and design sectors.

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Youssef Ben Hadj Ahmed / Pokh Design

Valletta Design Cluster

Youssef Ben Hadj Ahmed is a Tunisian artisan based in Sousse and founder of Pokh Design, a craft studio creating decorative objects, furniture and lifestyle pieces. His practice combines traditional leatherworking techniques with contemporary design, using locally sourced materials and predominantly manual processes. Rather than relying on ready-made stamps, Youssef works directly with the material, allowing patterns, colours and finishes to develop through the making process. Drawing on techniques passed down through generations, Pokh Design reinterprets Tunisian and Mediterranean craft traditions through distinctive contemporary objects that balance heritage, experimentation and functionality.

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Lina Zhou Yu x Joshua Yu

Valletta Design Cluster

Lina Zhou Yu and Joshua Yu are designers who recently relocated from China to Malta. Before moving, they founded and ran their own studio, focusing on cultural heritage preservation and adaptive reuse across planning and architectural scales. Their practice explores connections between history and the present, extending this approach into furniture design where structure and use become ways of reinterpreting cultural values within a contemporary context. Their participation in designMT represents an early creative engagement with their new environment in Malta.

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Inese Refalo, Zeltīte Upeniece & Francesca Puglisi

Valletta Design Cluster

An international collective of artists, each contributing through a distinct medium and perspective, they form a cohesive dialogue around nature, sustainability and craftsmanship.
Inese Refalo is a Latvia-born, Malta-based artist and interior designer working across acrylic, linocut and mixed media, combining abstraction and realism with storytelling and upcycled materials.
Zeltīte Upeniece is a Latvia-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans art, tailoring and astrology, exploring nature, symbolism and human experience.
Francesca Puglisi is a Palermo-based designer and textile artist exploring nature, sustainability and textile design through eco-printing, using natural dyes and low-impact processes.

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Katrin Formosa

Valletta Design Cluster

Katrin Formosa began exploring ceramics and mosaic while living in New York in 1983. After returning to Gozo, she established Gozo Pottery Barn at the Ta’ Dbieġi Artisan Village in 1989, where she continues to work today. Her practice combines locally inspired and folkloric designs with artistic, abstract and one-off pieces, reflecting an innovative approach to traditional ceramic craftsmanship. Alongside her studio practice, Katrin teaches pottery and mosaic through Lifelong Learning in Gozo and organises ceramics and mosaic sessions at her studio, sharing her skills with both local and visiting participants.

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Luke Bugeja Gauci

Valletta Design Cluster

Luke Bugeja Gauci is an artist whose work examines the human dynamics of living and the social structures that shape how individuals relate to and position themselves within the world. His practice creates environments intended to provoke reflection and emotional response, exploring responsibility, consequence and the effects individual decisions can have across wider systems. Rather than providing answers, Luke allows tension, beauty and discomfort to coexist, encouraging awareness of the often-invisible mechanisms of everyday life and the ways individuals both shape and are shaped by the systems they inhabit.