This year, Dubai witnesses its first Design Week. Held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice chairman of Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, the inaugural event is the world’s newest design hub.
Showcasing the best contemporary designs in the Middle East and across the world, Dubai Design Week aims at making Dubai the design capital of the region. Held from October 26th till October 31st, the six-day event will be all about creativity, installations, architecture, as well as product, industrial and graphic design.
Downtown Design doubles in size and the world’s first Global Grad show will be launched, gathering projects from some of the world’s leading design universities for the first time ever in an exhibition on innovation. Emerging and established talents from Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and UAE will also present their creations in “Abwab” exhibition, under the theme of ‘Games: The Element of Play in Culture”.
The first in an annual series of Iconic City exhibitions, Brilliant Beirut will take part in the Dubai Design Week and will explore the impact of local urban dynamics in the areas of design, production and creative culture from the 1950s till 2015. Among the participants are Nayef Francis Design Studio, L’Artisan du Liban et L’Orient, Nada Debs, The Aïshti Foundation and Liza Beirut.
Dubai’s residents and visitors are invited to explore exhibitions, installations and events, along with the newly developed d3, which constitutes the focal point of the week as an “open museum” of design. In addition, the program will feature talks and workshops that will take place at d3, giving UAE-based designers insights into the regional and global design industry.
“It is our privilege to be able to share Dubai's vision for the design scene with its many visitors and participants - a vision embodied by d3. Together with our partners, we aspire to enable both new and well established designers, as well as artists locally and regionally, to thrive and succeed," said d3’s Chief Operating Officer, Mohammad Saeed Al Shehhi.
Mirella Haddad
