Dubai Design Week: the Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

Dubai's inaugural design week gives visitors a taste of what to expect from its developing design district in the coming years

Dubai Design Week: the Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital
Dubai's inaugural Design Week gave visitors a glimpse of the city's plans to turn itself into a design capital. Central to this plan is d3, the city’s newly-unveiled design district which will combine a commercial retail area with a creative community
(Image credit: press)

Over the past decade, Dubai has been busy reinventing itself. Today it's a bustling commercial centre, a gateway between East and West, an international shopping and holiday destination and the host city for the upcoming 2020 Expo. And next up on the city's agenda is design, with an ambitious but carefully considered plan to turn more of Dubai's desert space into a hotbed of creativity and commerce. 

Central to this plan is d3, the city’s newly-unveiled design district which will combine a commercial retail area with a creative community, running side by side to encourage conversation between the two. Next to these will be a waterfront development, a new Marina to give a public edge to the design district. 

With the commercial portion of the district unveiled earlier this year - marking the completion of phase one of the master-plan - developer Tecom and the d3 management plans to open the district's Foster and Partners-designed creative community by 2018 (phase two) and for the waterfront to be completed for 2020 (phase three). Learning from other creative communities from across the globe, past and present, d3 has developed an ambitious plan to draw creative talent not only from Dubai but also from the entire region, and beyond. 

‘One of the strong components we are looking at is the academic side,’ explains Lindsay Miller, Managing director of d3, noting how her team will be hard at work for the next few months, working to establish a design school in the district. This educational and creative hub will attract, Miller hopes, further players from surrounding areas, as well as create a platform to start building on d3’s creative community. 

During the inaugural Dubai Design Week last month, a programme of design installations, an international trade show, retrospectives from various Middle Eastern countries and a graduate show gave visitors a taste of what they could expect from the district in the coming years, with a strong emphasis on service, research and development. 

The district's outdoor areas were populated by six pavilions designed by Dubai-based Loci Architecture, who encased local sand within polycarbonate panels to create translucent walls for the simple white frame structures. Each pavilion showcased work by designers from one of six MENA countries including Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and UAE. All inspired by the theme of ‘Games: The Element of Play in Culture’, each presentation subtly referenced European design projects and language, focusing however on Middle Eastern craft and manufacturing traditions.

Elsewhere in the city, international designers and artists took over the Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood, Jumeirah and the Marina, with installations that referenced traditional local crafts by Middle Eastern designers and new technology and conceptual thinking by global creatives. 

Not far from d3, in the Ras Al Khor flamingo sanctuary, the newly-formed Drak collective unveiled an annual project that each year will explore different aspects of the wildlife preservation in the area. The inaugural show included product design by Khalid Shafar, fashion by Khulood Thani, a jewellery piece by Lebanese designer Nadine Kanso, an architectural pavilion by Tarik Al Zaharna and a dedicated food truck by David O’Brien.

Each aspect of the Design Week places a strong emphasis on collaboration, alongside a desire to explore and celebrate local craftsmanship while forging a new design language that can identify the region. 

Dubai Design Week: the Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

With the commercial portion of Dubai's Design District having been unveiled this year - marking the completion of phase one of the masterplan - developer Tecom and the d3 management plans to open the district's Foster and Partners-designed creative community by 2018 (phase two) and for the waterfront to be completed for 2020 (phase three)

(Image credit: press)

Dubai Design Week: the Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

Learning from other creative communities from across the globe, past and present, d3 has developed an ambitious plan to draw creative talent not only from Dubai but also from the entire region, and beyond

(Image credit: press)

The Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

Visitors to Dubai Design Week were treated to a busy programme of design installations, an international trade show, retrospectives from various Middle Eastern countries and a graduate show

(Image credit: press)

The Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

The district's outdoor areas were populated by six pavilions designed by Dubai-based Loci Architecture, who encased local sand in polycarbonate panels to create translucent walls for the simple white frame structures

(Image credit: press)

Each pavilion showcased work by designers from one of six MENA countries including Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and UAE. All inspired by the theme of ‘Games: The Element of Play in Culture’

(Image credit: press)

The Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

Elsewhere in the city, international designers and artists took over popular areas with installations that combined local craft with imaginative design. At the Dubai Marina, Latifa Saeed and Talin Hazber presented Earth Hives (pictured) - an installation of 575 terracotta spheres that celebrate Emirati craft

(Image credit: press)

The Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

Aljoud Lootah installed a woven pavilion inspired by traditional Emirati fishing nets on the beach

(Image credit: press)

The Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

In the Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood, Brazilian collective Amor de Madre presented A Place of Departure, a conceptual double wall of glass and wood that uses a haptic feedback system to create simulataneous vibrations across the collective's other glass walls, that are currently installed in Sao Paulo and Beiijing

(Image credit: press)

The Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

Also in Al Fahidi, Iraqui designer Ali Al-Sammarraie presented his Detritus Wall made from waste off-cuts

(Image credit: press)

The Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

Inside the old buildings in the area visitors could find the lighting works of Syrian architects Bahar al Bahar and Sawsan Al Bahar

(Image credit: press)

The Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

Dubai-based artist Raudha Al Ghurair presented a project that exemplifies a collaboration between human and nature through technology

(Image credit: press)

The Emirati city reinvents itself as a global design capital

A glass archway by Anjali Srinivasan was built over the course of a week in the spaces of d3

(Image credit: press)

INFORMATION

For more information visit the Dubai Design Week website

TOPICS

Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.