Dubai Design Week is an annual event held to celebrate and promote design and creativity in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

. The first Dubai Design Week took place in 2015, and is held annually at venues across the city, with Dubai Design District being the main hub. With an extensive programme of free-to-attend exhibitions, talks, workshops, the 2019 festival attracted over 90,000 visitors and as such it is considered the largest creative festival in the Middle East. Providing a meeting point for the global design community, Dubai Design Week represents the region's design talent while engaging with the growing design and creative community in Dubai and the UAE. More information is available on th
Dubai Design Week Website
and social media channels includin
Instagram
an
Facebook
The last edition of Dubai Design Week took place from 8–13 November 2021.

Overview

Dubai Design Week is owned and managed by the Art Dubai Group (ADG). Held under the patronage of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, staged in strategic partnership with Dubai Design District, and supported by

Dubai Culture and Arts Authority The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) is an authority under Government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which works in preservation of the cultural heritage and support of cultural scene in Dubai. History Established in 2008 by M ...

an
A.R.M. Holding
it is one of a series of initiatives aimed at developing design and innovation in Dubai by fostering a creative environment. The six-day event showcases a wide variety of design skills and disciplines including:

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

product Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...

and

furniture design Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordi ...

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a w ...

, industrial design,

service design Service design is the activity of planning and arranging people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality, and the interaction between the service provider and its users. Service design may ...

, technology

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

, and more. and the programme includes content from over 100 partner organisations. Dubai Design Week takes place across the city and at its main hub; Dubai Design District (d3), staging activity and events for a wide variety of visitors; from design and architecture professionals through to a dedicated children's programme during the festival's weekend. Key components of Dubai Design Week include the region's leading fair for high-quality, original design, Downtown Design; Global Grad Show, a year-round programme for graduate students across the world, working on social impact innovation; Abwab, the annually remodelled, interactive platform for creative talent from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia; alongside an extensive, hybrid talks and workshops programme.

Downtown Design

As the commercial centrepiece of Dubai Design Week - Downtown Design is the leading design trade fair for high-quality, original design in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

for design professionals, showcasing a variety of commercial designs from various industries. It was originally launched in 2013 prior to Dubai Design Week but is now held annually during the week-long festival. The fair exhibits product launches and latest collections from over 200 international and regional design brands and country pavilions alongside Downtown Editions, the fair's boutique showcase for limited-edition design with a spotlight on designers from the Middle East. The next edition of Downtown Design will take place from 9–12, 2022.

Global Grad Show

Global Grad Show is a year-round programme for university graduates and professors who are working on solutions for a better world. It is a platform for promotion, collaboration and development of projects addressing challenges faced by people and communities around the planet, created by academics in the fields of technology, science and design. The yearly programme includes: * A collaboration initiative for professors and graduates, to work together across disciplines, institutions and countries on real-world challenges. * An entrepreneurship route that offers graduates with the opportunity to develop their project towards implementation. * Held at Dubai Design Week every year is an interactive exhibition of projects from students in top design

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

around the world, such as the

Royal College of Arts The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It off ...

, Keio University and

KAIST The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is a national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first public, resear ...

. The projects are curated based on unique and interesting experiences that range from ultra-technical to incredibly simple. Introduced in 2020, the second edition o
MENA Grad Show
brought together social impact innovation projects in the fields of technology, science and design from universities from across the Middle East and North Africa region.

Abwab

Abwab translates as ‘doors’ in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

. It is Dubai Design Week's key event for highlighting regional design talent from the

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

. The annually remodelled exhibition acts as a snapshot of design activity in the region with a purpose to promote design talent and stimulate information exchange. A total of 180 designers have participated in Abwab from 2015 to 2020.

External links

Dubai Design Week Official Site

Downtown Design Official Site

Global Grad Show Official Site

References

{{reflist, 30em Industrial design Design events