Dubai Design Week returns to d3 from November 3 to 8: Here's what's on across six days
Free to attend, 6 days of installations, talks and workshops across Dubai Design District
Dubai: Dubai Design Week returns to Dubai Design District (d3) next week for its 12th edition, with exhibitions, outdoor installations, talks, workshops and a weekend market spread across the district.
Running from Tuesday, November 3, to Sunday, November 8, the festival is held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture. This year's programme looks at how design can strengthen connection between people, from the spaces they gather in to the languages they use.
"Design influences how we live, how our cities function and how we respond to change," said Natasha Carella, Director of Dubai Design Week.
Here is what is happening across the six days.
When: November 3 to 8
Where: Dubai Design District (d3), Dubai
Price: Free, according to Dubai Design Week's visitor page. Downtown Design is ticketed, from Dh80 on Platinumlist
Downtown Design
The festival's headline event is Downtown Design, a fair for contemporary design, which runs from November 4 to 8.
International names include German kitchen appliance brand Gaggenau, Italian glassmaker Venini, Italian outdoor furniture brand Ethimo, and Kohler, which is presenting a collaboration with Dubai-based architect and designer Agata Kurzela.
From the region, Tashkeel's Tanween Design Programme and Abu Dhabi's Athath Fellowship will show work by emerging designers. Iwan Maktabi will present new pieces by UAE-based designers Nadine Kanso and Omar Al Gurg, drawing on Arabic calligraphy, symbols of the UAE and memories of the traditional majlis. Newcomers include ceramic studio Slō and furniture studio Contemporary Spaces, founded by siblings Alya, Maitha and Obaid Al Suwaidi.
There will also be a Memphis Milano exhibit celebrating the Memphis design movement, a Buccellati pop-up with British designer Luke Edward Hall, and a Veuve Clicquot Lounge designed by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori.
The fair's talks programme, The Forum, features interior architect and designer Tristan Auer as keynote speaker.
A garden built for gathering
This year's Urban Commissions winner is Three Gardens and a Room, by Dubai-based NAO Architects, founded by architect Reem Nassour.
Responding to the theme Atmospheres, the project is made up of three gardens arranged around a central space, using foliage, shade, colour and filtered light. The space in between the three gardens forms a room where visitors can gather, pause and observe.
Abwab becomes a group show
Abwab, the festival's long-running commissioning programme, is moving away from individual pavilions this year. It becomes a group exhibition titled In Other Words, which explores language through signage, symbols, interfaces, gestures and oral histories.
Installations across d3
Large outdoor installations will be set up across the district's public spaces. Among them, Japan's Nikken Sekkei and SOBOKUYA will unveil CHATAI 2.0, an expanded timber structure combining Japanese craftsmanship with spaces for communal making.
Indian practice ALTER reimagines the board game Ludo as an interactive installation called Playing Field, and Palestinian-Turkish aestudio turns reclaimed concrete rubble into new architectural forms. Emirati architect Rasha Saffarini's Taqleem takes its cue from the traditional practice of palm-tree trimming, while Bahrain's Palm and Palazzo looks at privacy and social connection in the traditional Bahraini home.
Arquitectonica, Nordic Office Architects and Duette Studio are also taking part.
Exhibitions and pop-ups
The UAE Designer Exhibition returns under the theme Inherited Futures, shaped by architect and designer AlZaina Lootah, bringing together UAE-based designers who reinterpret inherited materials, rituals and ways of making.
L'École, School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, will show research into the lost goldsmithing techniques of the Second Iron Age. Architecture firm Woods Bagot marks 25 years in the region with an exhibition, and Al Jalila Cultural Centre for Children presents ceramics by young practitioners.
Pinterest makes its Dubai Design Week debut with designer collaborations, and Ethr presents Desert Dweller, a contemporary take on the Bedouin tent.
Workshops and talks
Hands-on workshops take place in a dedicated Maker Space and are open to all ages and experience levels. Sessions will be led by professors from the University of the Arts London and SAE University College, alongside HKS Architects and Leica Camera.
The weekend Marketplace
On Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, the outdoor Marketplace brings together homegrown businesses and independent makers from the UAE and the region. Expect homeware, jewellery, fashion and sustainably made goods, plus food, children's activities and live performances.
Getting there
The nearest Metro station is Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa, where RTA bus route D03 runs to the Dubai Design District 1 stop. Shuttle buses go from there to the Downtown Design fair.
Drivers get the first two hours of parking free, after which it costs Dh20 per hour. Valet is available at several spots across d3.
The full programme is available on the Dubai Design Week website.
