Back for its fourth edition, Design Days Dubai 2015 presents a 44-gallery showcase of design jewels that are worthy of coveting.
Emphasising on contemporary design, this year’s edition of the region’s only design fair dedicated to rare, collectible design is not only a vehicle for design lovers and those who are looking to build an investment portfolio of personal and cultural worth, it is a platform to further a dialogue on the opportunities the Middle East presents to the international creative community.
This is my pick of why this year’s fair cannot be missed.
REGIONALLY STRONG
With nearly half of the 2015 gallery line-up coming from the Middle East, it is a great opportunity to tap into the regional design community and its fast-evolving vocabulary — chic, contemporary and of the soil.
Beirut-based Art Factum Gallery and Dubai’s Nakkash Gallery return with eclectic collections that bridge the past and the present. Naqsh Design House from Amman is set to present its Wihdeh Collection — celebrating unity through the beauty of regional embroidery. Bolstering UAE’s presence are 1971, a stunning new outpost for design in Sharjah and Arty by AMN from Ajman.
Affording a new generation of regional designers exposure on the international design platform, Tashkeel, the Dubai-based organisation committed to facilitating art and design practice, will present the final works of its Tashkeel Design Programme 2015 participants.
GIRL POWER
A former participant of the Tashkeel Design Programme, Aljoud Lootah makes her design fair debut with a diligently numbered, limited edition Oru series, which also marks the debut of her eponymous design studio. Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi-British dame of design, will present the stunningly poetic Liquid Glacial table via the David Gill Galleries from London. Wiener Silber Manufactur from Austria will present a collection of Hadid’s vases and the creative lighting masters Zumtobel will illuminate the fair with VorteXX, a lighting sculpture in collaboration with Hadid and Patrick Schumacher. British interior designer Fiona Barratt-Campbell — known for taking on historical British themes and interpreting them in a very modern way with traditional manufacturing expertise — will also make her Dubai debut.
DESIGN OF A DECADE
When the Lebanon-born Nada Debs returned to Beirut in 2000, she started a design revolution of sorts, imploring the regional design market — craftsmen, retailers and design lovers alike — to take notice of the worth in locally produced design pieces. Through her label, Studio Nada Debs, the designer has found a unique vocabulary of marrying the minimal Japanese aesthetic with the puritan functionality of the American design ethos and the Middle East’s love for ornamentation. The result is a truly global brand that is retailed the world over and has opened doors for other regional designers to fearlessly pursue their dreams. Design Days Dubai celebrates Debs’ illustrious career with a special showcase.
A TRIP AROUND THE DESIGN CAPITALS
Celebrating a modern interpretation of traditional crafts and techniques, Crafts Council brings its signature Brit Cool to the fair with works by the likes of Rebecca Gouldson — known for her large scale, site-specific focal points — and Fay McCaul, a master at mixing modern materials with traditional knitting methods.
Gallery S. Bensimon brings Parisian chic to the table with its stunning collection of furniture and design objects with an emphasis on natural materials and sensitive expertise.
Chamber NYC, a boutique of one-of-a-kind, limited-edition objects of design and art will present unique works that are mix of eras, materials and symbolisms, while fair favourites, Carpenters Workshop Gallery returns with a stunning collection of fun and thought provoking statement pieces.
Get ready to have your understanding of popular material pushed beyond the edge as the London- and Italy-based Gallery FUMI showcases pioneering works by Glithero and Studio Markunpoika, among others.
CHINA CALLING
China makes its presence felt at this year’s show with Gallery ALL leading the charge. Committed to introducing cutting-edge and experimental design collections, the gallery presents works by Zhoujie Zhang, who used his own digitalised fabrication system, “Endless Forms”, to create a sharp, almost futuristic yet completely functional collection.
As the 2016 World Design Capital, Taipei seizes an opportunity in Dubai to showcase the brilliance of China’s creative energy, Design Days Dubai plays host to a teaser of what we can expect from the Chinese city the coming year.
Making its Middle Eastern debut, the Beijing Design Week presents the China Design RoundUP. Get ready to witness some stunning prototypes, limited edition and made-to-order design pieces — built on a modern interpretation of articulately researched vernacular and artisanal production — that are guaranteed to dispel China’s image copy-only destination.
THE BIG PRIZE
High Jewellery maison Van Cleef & Arpels, in collaboration with Tashkeel and Design Days Dubai, will present The Middle East Emergent Artist Prize 2015. The winner will receive a once-in-a-lifetime break with a seven-day trip to Paris to attend L’ECOLE Van Cleef & Arpels — first school to shed light on the hidden worlds of jewellery and watch-making to the public.
“Art and culture have always been a major source of inspiration for Van Cleef & Arpels. It gives meaning in all what we do,” says Alban Belloir, CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels ME and India. “Through this award we continue our objective to highlight talent throughout the region, providing a platform for emerging designers and artists to exhibit their work.”
This year’s theme — Functional and Conceptual Design — sees finalists Ivan Parati (Italy), Loulwa Al Radwan (Kuwait), the UAE-based collective Merehan Kika, Maryam Sherif and Sultan Alqasimi and Jordanian interior designer Renad Hussain vying for the prize. Also on showcase at the fair is the “Pierres de Caractère” collection, which first marked the Maison’s centenary, seven years ago.
HEAD IN THE CLOUDS
Victor Hunt DesignArt Dealer — known for their show-stopping installations — are set to debut another bespoke installation that is sure to set social media platforms abuzz. Lumière by Commonplace Studio appropriates contemporary projector technology, paying homage to the inventors who popularised modern cinema, with 28 pendant lamps suspended in space. What may initially seem a random configuration will create recognisable cloud-like forms thanks to custom-built micro-projectors embedded within each lamp fixture programmed to orchestrate into a meteorological spectacle of ever-changing images of a cloudy sky.
Unlike the sometimes ominous Dubai skies, if you don’t like what the bulbs are projecting, wait a little till a sky you prefer halos above you.
EVERYTHING PRECIOUS
Often regarded as the godfather of modern glass design, René Roubíček’s vision has informed three generations of designers and collectors. The artist’s creations for the 1958 and 1967 World Expos symbolised the liberation of glass from centuries of strict confinement to expected shapes.
His latest work, a conceptual expression of all the unique elements that are characteristic of his stellar career, is brought to life by the unique skills of Bohemian glass masters from the Crystal Valley in Kamenicky Senov. Marvel, revere or simply fall in love with Roubíček’s glass art as the Czech haute lighting label Preciosa Lighting brings the legend’s seminal works to Dubai.
— Pratyush Sarup edits the design site designcarrot.net. You can follow the site on twitter @DesignCarrot.
— Design Days Dubai runs from March 16 to 20. For more information log on to designdaysdubai.ae
