With over 150,000 visitors expected, and 500 exhibitors from 40 countries, Dubai Design Week 2023, at its ninth iteration, is set to be the largest fair in the Middle East for design, held from 7 to 12 November, consolidating the position of the city as the creative and design capital of the Middle East, and as a UNESCO design city.
As always, the main event will be Downtown Design which marks its 10th anniversary. The initiative takes place in the global creative hub of d3, Dubai Design District. Alongside this appointment for sector professionals, architects, designers, leading thinkers and influencers, on 11 and 12 November The Marketplace will offer an experience of “sustainable shopping” presenting a selection of products by creative talents, artisans and small local companies in the heart of d3.
Another fulcrum of the Design Week is over 25 outdoor installations, focusing on a very timely theme: how design, science and technology can converge to revitalize traditional materials and reimagine them in new forms that encourage sustainable practices. In this context, FabPub, a joint venture of Mamou-Mani Architects and Therme Group, will present The Altostrata: a pavilion made with a 3D printing system in compostable sugar-based PLA; and eco-cooling walls entirely formed by loofah and a modular system of paper pulp.
There is also the return of Abwab, the platform of designers from the entire area of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, updated year after year. For this edition a pavilion has been commissioned to the Emirati architect Abdalla Almulla, founder in the Emirates of the design studio Mula. Focused on sustainability, the structure will host special projects and performances.
As usual, many initiatives involve emerging talents: the annual exhibition of designers from the United Arab Emirates, curated by Fatma Al Mahmoud and supported by Dubai Culture; the exhibition 100/100 Best Arabic Posters, supported by 421 (an independent platform on art and creativity in the Emirates region), to document the visual culture of the Arab world; and the projects of the Royal College of Art of London connected with emerging technologies, with a focus on themes like textiles, health, infrastructures and environmental regeneration.
The values of Dubai Design Week – an event held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, president of Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) and a member of the Dubai Council, in strategic partnership with Dubai Design District (d3) – are clear, expressed through the words of the representatives of the organizations involved.
Natasha Carella, director of programming of Dubai Design Week, adds: “In 2023, the Year of Sustainability of the United Arab Emirates, this year’s Dubai Design Week builds on a dialogue through engaging and stimulating initiatives, to focus attention on how different practices can converge to promote sustainability, which we see as a fundamental factor for the future of the design industry and the planet.”
