Dubai is one of the few cities in recent times that has used the power of design to make a mark. From iconic buildings to landmark developments in the sea, the emirate has pushed global design frontiers. As the first Dubai Design Week opens to the public, Dubai stakes its claim as a global destination for creativity, an emerging design capital. The citywide event is open to the public and everyone is invited.
This is the tabloid! round-up of projects you just can’t miss.
THE INSTALLATIONS
Engaging the city in design, integral to Dubai Design Week are the installations across the city. A mix of local and international designers have come together to create 12 design experiences. Built in Dubai, each installation challenges convention and embodies the spirit of its location.
Three designers are giving the Al Fahidi District (formerly known as Al Bastakiya) a new lease of life. Developed by D3 of Brazil, A Place to Departure allows people to interact remotely.
With Detritus Wall Iraq born architect Ali Al Sammarraie challenges our world view of the ugly and discarded as waste is transformed into installations that provide sound and visual barriers.
Deconstruction Zone by Sao Paulo’s Henrique Stabile invites visitors to build and rebuild their own furniture solutions as they choose. The project aims to serve as a space for community interaction, cultural exchange and seeing humanity behind design.
Annica Cuppetelli and Cristobal Mendoza present the Nervous Structure, a composition of cables superimposed against a computer-generated video projection of lines. The structure responds to the viewer’s movement, creating a play of light and shadow, the real and the virtual.
With their work, LUZ, UAE-based Syrian architects, Bahar Al Bahar and Sawsan Al Bahar re-contextualise ‘muqarnas’ — the three-dimensional decoration traditionally found covering the undersides of vaults and arches.
VISION
The Beach opposite JBR will play host to Emirati designer Aljoud Lootah’s salute to traditional fishing techniques. Yaroof, composed of four octagonal frames patterned with nylon ropes depicts the shape and structure of a fishing net and acts as a refuge of sorts at the beach. Juxtaposing regional artisanal crafts against our hi-tech life.
Earth Hives by Latifa Saeed and Talin Hazbar features a lighting system embedded within terracotta hemispheres, each representing a section of clay pot.
Dubai Design District (d3) hosts four designer’s vision. Anjali Srinivasan’s live work, the Archway is a transparent arch built entirely using weblike glass filaments, in real time. The designer will work in front of visitors, each day of design week.
Lot36576 by Dubai-based artist Raudha Al Gurair is part of a body of work that examines notions of objects in space and containment. Materials used are perishable, alluding to the ephemeral nature of life and cells, the building blocks of all living things.
Through sensors, the Brazilian architect Guto Requena taps into participant’s emotional connect to their most defining memories and transforms them, via 3d printing into mandalas. As participants talk, in private, about their love lives, the sensors relay data from their changing emotions to specially-developed software hooked to a 3d printer. The Love Project is quite literally your deepest memory in physical form.
Tribute to dhows
Fragments of Now by Tokyo’s Yohei Iwaki is a series of digital ‘mirrors’ that count back your reflection from ‘now’ to a few seconds back, asking the question ‘How much are we really in the present moment?’
A sculpture of sails made out of scaffolding poles, TRUSS.T is Dubai-based artist Zeinab Al Hashemi’s tribute to historic Arabic dhows. It will take place in Dubai’s Citywalk area. Tashkeel will present Soundweaving, a collaboration between Zsanett Szirmay, a master’s student at the Department of Textile Design at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest and the musician and composer Bálint Tárkány-Kovács.
THINGS [EXTRA]ORDINARY
A collaboration between the regional lifestyle label s*uce & graphic designer turned street-artist Paige Smith will transform Dubai as the LA-based designer goes about planting her sculptures around the city. Be prepared to spot the DXB edition of her Urban Geode series as she elevates everyday objects into design pieces by building paper and resin sculptures onto existing surfaces. From crannies in the pavement to old doors and phone booths, Paige’s work will force you to re-think the worth of things old, broken and slightly imperfect. Location: City-wide.
Head to the O Concept Store to meet the Livingstones. Using her signature natural materials, soft harmonious forms and freedom of interpretation, French designer Stephanie Marin will create a poetic landscape with her award-winning, eco-conscious products. Location: Beach Hotel Apartment, Jumeirah 1, Dubai.
The Fatima Bint Mohammad Initiative is the UAE’s very own carpet production and community development programme empowering more than 4,000 female artisans in the hand-knotted carpet industry. Fatima Bint Mohammad Initiative weavers will give a workshop on the techniques of weaving and one-on-one weaving opportunities for visitors to Dubai Design Week.
Location: Dubai Design District, Building 7.
ABWAB at d3
Arguably nothing says ‘community’ better than a good game. That is exactly what the Dubai Design Week’s gateway project is aiming for with ‘Abwab’. Catering to this year’s theme The Element of Play in Culture, Dubai-based architects LOCI designed six pavilions for the six countries participating in the project in ways that each could transform their space to best represent themselves. Designers from the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, Pakistan and Tunisia will curate their pavilions, taking visitors on a fun cultural journey seen through their region’s favourite game.
Mobius Design Studio will curate the UAE pavilion, featuring work by 12 designers, including the award-winning Ammar Kalo, while the KSA pavilion is governed by the styling of sisters Basma and Noura Bouzo. Owners and co-founders of Oasis Magazine and Saudi Design Week, they present a modern take on the region’s beloved Umm Tis’ game. Arini, a non-profit private study and research institution, will curate the Jordanian space with the help of four regional designers.
Leading Pakistani designer Salman Jawed is set to shine a new light on his country. Allowing us all a fresh perspective into the country’s hopes and aspirations is a multidisciplinary team of eight artists, designers and a good game of marbles re-imagined. Chacha Atallah, a leading architect in Tunisia will represent her country, while the architect, artist and storyteller Waleed Shaalan will be in charge of the Kuwaiti pavilion.
AROUND THE CITY
The entire emirate is engaged in a creative experience as universities, organisations, stores and galleries stage independent workshops and open-door days, collectively underlining Dubai’s rich and multifaceted design landscape. These are the independent projects we are really excited about.
ICONIC CITY: BRILLIANT BEIRUT
The first in the annual celebration of international cities of note, Brilliant Beirut, curated and designed by Beirut-born and based designer Rana Salam, will explore the impact of the city’s ever-changing urban and societal landscape on creative expression. The civil war, instability and Beirut’s complex social make-up — all have contributed to the city’s stature on the global design scene. Housed at d3 design, the exhibit is the first attempt at documenting the Levantine capital’s creative journey across seven decades, seen through architecture, education, graphic design, fashion, furniture and cultural trends. Location: Dubai Design District, Building 7.
GLOBAL GRAD SHOW
Building on Dubai’s essence as a destination of discovery and innovation, the design week hosts the next generation of designers that will impact the way we live. The Global Grad Show, curated by Brendan McGetrick, one of the most respected independent writers on design will feature projects by students from the foremost design schools the world over. 50 projects, curated across six categories — construction, health, home, memory, play and work — will provide a window into the future of design. Participating Universities: Royal College of Art, MIT, Pratt Institute, Hong Kong PolyU, National University of Singapore, ECAL, Keio University Graduate School of Media Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, KAIST, Tsinghua University. Location: Dubai Design District, Building 6.
Don’t miss it
Dubai Design Week runs from October 26 to 31, For more information, go to dubaidesignweek.ae
