Dubai: From wood to feathers and Swarovski crystals, Dubai has outdone itself this year as its streets have undergone a unique makeover to celebrate the festive mood of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF).
While decorating the city is an annual tradition, Gulf News took a quick glance behind the scenes to find out what sets the city’s adornments apart this year by talking to Yousuf Mubarak Al Sarkal, Executive Director of the Government Affairs Division at the Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment.
Along with the usual board announcements and illuminations set up for the shopping season, Al Sarkal highlighted the designs of the DSF bag structures as the centrepieces of the festival’s decorations.
“There are more than 30 units of themed DSF bag structures of different designs that are made of special materials and colours based on the theme of the area.”
Placed in some of the emirate’s most prominent locations, the bag structures are made of materials ranging from bulbs and wood to silk fabrics and crystals.
Driving by the Heritage and Diving Village, visitors will notice a bag structure holding the DSF logo made out of woven palm leaves and wood with a rope handle, while a wooden structure is set up in the Al Fahidi area.
Another bag structure made out of Chinese embroidered silk fabric is placed at Dragon Mart, while the DSF bag created as a painting is displayed in Downtown Dubai.
“The bags are different in each location — at Ras Al Khor it’s made out of a special material of pink feathers, at Riqqa Street the bag is made of carnival light bulbs and in the Gold Souq, the golden bag has Swarovski diamond crystals,” explained Al Sarkal.
Along with the bag structures, Al Sarkal pointed out that lighting, banners, flags and other decorative material were used to enhance the ambience for the tens and thousands of visitors in the city during the 32-day shopping extravaganza.
“There are more than 8,000 3D units of lighting, which represent the DSF colours — red, blue, green and white — and 3,200 flags have been used to decorate the city.”
The lighting and decorations are distributed and displayed at vantage points and key locations in the city including DSF destinations, Metro stations, main streets, bridges, parks, tunnels, roundabouts and trees. Key areas that sparkle with DSF decorations include Airport Road, Shaikh Zayed Road, Al Riqqa Street, 2nd of December Street, Al Maktoum Bridge, Al Garhoud Bridge, Business Bay Bridge, Al Shindagha Tunnel, Creek Park, Zabeel Park, Gold Souq, Deira and Al Fahidi.
With energy conservation in mind, the lighting used is powered by energy-efficient LED bulbs.
The festival’s decorations have been produced by a number of companies, suppliers and agencies. “They develop the products and material for the lighting and decoration based on the concept, theme and direction provided by the Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment,” explained Al Sarkal.
