Dubai Design Week, the annual celebration of design and global meeting point for the international design industry is now open

Tuesday 25 October 2016

Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice Chairman of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) and a driving force for the development of Dubai as a global creative centre, today opened the second edition of Dubai Design Week (24-29 October 2016).

Held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice Chairman, Dubai Culture in partnership with Dubai Design District (d3), and supported by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, Dubai Design Week is set to enthrall the city once more, strengthening Dubai’s position as a global hub for the design and creative industries.

Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said: “Dubai is playing a pivotal role regionally in creating a dialogue and space for conversations across creative industries. Dubai Design Week acts as an active catalyst to these interactions, bringing together different schools of thought across the design industry and from around the world. Together, these groups can showcase the fruition of their work right here in Dubai to answer aesthetic, functional, and forward looking elements through design. With Dubai Design Week, we look to engage our public in this conversation, inspire our youth to actively seek participation in the creative industries, and stimulate their imaginations, ambitions and originality to lead Dubai’s progress as a leading international hub of innovation.”

Her Highness added, “Following last year’s success of the inaugural event, we will see the return of the Global Grad Show, which has already trebled its size for the second edition of Dubai Design Week, with leading design schools and programs from around the world and the region taking part. This year sees local talent flourish at the show with four local universities participating for the first time. We will also see the return of Dubai Design Week’s signature project ‘Abwab’, where the UAE is represented as one of the six pavilions. We look forward to seeing this event grow year on year and inspire all who attend and interact with it.”

The second edition of Dubai Design Week will take place across the city with over 550 designers participating in a six-day celebration of ground-breaking design and ideas, free for all to attend. Key facts include:

  • Dubai Design Week doubles in size, dynamic and diverse, with over 150 events across the city
  • Downtown Design, establishes itself is the only trade show in the Middle East for professionals to discover original, high quality design from across the world and doubles its registrations
  • Global Grad Show, the world’s largest graduate degree show trebles in size with 145 projects from 50 universities worldwide, including 9 from the region
  • Taking advantage of the remarkable educational opportunity, more than 2,500 students from 47 schools and universities in the UAE to visit – register to attend
  • Abwab explores the human senses with design pavilions from six regional countries, giving an international platform for regional designers
  • Cairo takes centre stage as this design week’s featured ‘Iconic City’
  • d3 remains pivotal location as the event’s commercial design hub and an ‘open museum’ of design
  • Audi Middle East in partnership with Dubai Design Week announces the first Audi Innovation Award design contest, calling for designers in the Middle East to create innovative design solutions that demonstrate ‘significant positive change’ around the theme ‘Alternative’.
  • Dubai Design Week is an advocate for the design community to grow, develop, thrive and succeed as it provides a stage for designers and design programmes from the local and international communities. The annual event embraces the vast potential of designers and their works and presents it to the audience to discover and engage in diversity and richness through exhibitions, installations, talk and workshops, and satellite events.

d3’s Chief Operating Officer, Mohammad Saeed Al Shehhi, says: ”d3 is once again delighted to welcome the second edition of Dubai Design Week to Dubai and our district. Celebrating design from across the region and further afield, Dubai Design Week truly demonstrates d3’s commitment to enabling Dubai to become a leading global design hub by providing a platform for the creative industry to unite, create and be inspired.’’

With an ambitious and broad-ranging agenda, Dubai Design Week aims to make a statement as bold and attention-grabbing as the spirit of the city itself, while encouraging the world to look beyond the expected and discover the balance of imagination and innovation that drives Dubai forward. Rawan Kashkoush, Head of Programming at Dubai Design Week said: “As a fast-emerging global design capital that inspires designers around the world, Dubai Design Week acts as a vibrant platform for showcasing their works and fosters the next generation of design talent.”

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