Published on : Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Dubai Design Week 2017, held from November 13 to 18, staged over 200 events celebrating design in a wide range of disciplines and brought 60,000 visitors to the Dubai Design District (d3), an impressive 50% increase from last year, further establishing Dubai’s position as a regional hub for design and creativity. Throughout Dubai, designers showcased ground-breaking design, hosted talks, workshops and welcomed visitors into the creative process. Providing an exceptional educational opportunity, 3,200 students from schools and universities across the UAE took part in the educational tours at Dubai Design Week 2017.
Benedict Floyd, CEO and Co-Founder of Art Dubai Group that owns and manages Dubai Design Week, says: “In only three editions, Dubai Design Week has grown to equal in stature its sister event Art Week and plays a similar role in establishing Dubai as the region’s capital for culture and creativity. Through our events such as Art Dubai, the world’s most globally diverse art fair and Global Grad Show, the world’s largest gathering of universities, we are able to leverage Dubai’s position to create unique events that have become meeting points for the world’s creative community”.
d3’s Chief Executive Officer, Mohammad Saeed Al Shehhi, says: “We’re very pleased with the incredible response to Dubai Design Week, hosted by d3 again this year, which witnessed a significant increase in visitors from last year. The collaborations between organisations and independent designers, including more than 50 d3 creative partners and retailers, present an extraordinary caliber of creativity and innovation in various sectors of design. This has not only boosted Dubai’s role as an arbiter of cutting-edge design, but also helped emerging regional designers, thinkers and design students bring forth their ideas to a much larger audience.”
Highlights for this year included:
DOWNTOWN DESIGN
Celebrating its fifth edition, the Middle East’s leading design fair, staged its largest edition to date, attracting 15,000 visitors, an increase of 25% from last year.Taking place at the d3 Waterfront, Downtown Design is the regional meeting point for the design industry and a platform to explore the latest trends in contemporary design. With 150 exhibitors, 72 of which are new to the event and the region, the fair has grown 350 % since its inauguration.
GLOBAL GRAD SHOW
With over 200 projects from 92 of the best universities, Global Grad Show is the world’s largest gathering of universities that presented innovative design solutions to improve our lives. This year, the show inaugurated the Progress Prize; selected by a global jury chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the winning design was awarded to graduates of the School of Form in Poland.
EVENTS, POP-UPS, TALKS & WORKSHOPS
World leading architect Sir David Adjaye opened the week to a packed house, and was followed by 92 talks and workshops held by international and regional experts and leading institutions such as the Royal College of Art. The successful debut of Meraas’s ‘Making Space’, welcomed over 3.000 visitors with activities run by a number of partners including Tashkeel and Al Jalila Cultural Centre for Children.
EXHIBITIONS AND INSTALLATIONS
14 exhibitions and installations were commissioned with a focus on local and regional talent. Designers took part in producing new content that included work by Emirati designers Aljoud Lootah, Lujaine Rezk and Khalid Shafar and the stand-out exhibition of the year Abwab displayed a selection of the best work from 47 designers from the region.
Tags: design, dubai, dubai design district, Dubai Design Week, visitors
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