Dubai Design Week, one of the Middle East’s largest creative festivals is almost here. Each year, the festival features a varied programme that includes exhibitions, installations, panel discussions and workshops.
Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s event.
What is Dubai Design Week?
Dubai Design Week is a festival for designers and creatives to showcase their work and create dialogue, becoming an annual meeting place for the creative community in Dubai and the region.
The annual event, now in its eight season, will this year focus on designing for a sustainable future. This will be integrated into the week’s activities through a range of disciplines including architecture, product design, interiors and multimedia, by both celebrated and up-and-coming international and regional designers.
What is happening at Dubai Design Week?
There will be a number of activities running throughout the six-day event, including exhibitions, workshops and talks, for the public to attend.
The installation programme, titled Design With Impact, will feature regional and international artists creating a series of immersive public works. The methods and materials used in the installations hope to spark conversations on the positive impact design can have on the environment.
One public installation, titled Palm Renaissance, will show how date palm waste can be transformed into contemporary screens that double as efficient sunshades. Creating these date palm shelters sustainably disposes of palm waste while also reducing carbon footprint.
Another installation aiming to change the public's perception of a known material is Al Gargoor project. The public space will feature a variety of furnishings made from gargoor — a common material used as a fishing net. By upcycling old fishing nets, Al Gargoor celebrates the heritage of these objects, while revealing how they can be upcycled into a more contemporary, sustainable product.
Exhibitions on show at Dubai Design Week will showcase a varied range of works and concepts from local designers, as well as works in the metaverse.
Designing Women takes visitors on a journey through an immersive multimedia exhibition, featuring several installations all created by female designers, showing how cultural influences from the region inform their vibrant aesthetics and design.
Meanwhile, the Design in the Metaverse exhibition aims to push people to rethink design. Curated by Metaverse development specialist MetaDecrypt from Dubai, it examines how Metaverse technology is redefining what constitutes an immersive experience within the context of art and design.
The UAE Designer Exhibition is also not to be missed. Set up in the Downtown Design tent, it is a showcase of both emerging and established regional talent from different design disciplines. The exhibition offers regional talent a crucial platform to showcase their work to the public and international design experts.
Dubai Design Week will also have workshops for visitors of all ages and levels run by professionals — from professors to practitioners.
These include Clay Fun Plates, a workshop where participants create ornamental plates run by ceramic artist and illustrator Maryam Elattar; Creative Coding by artist and educator Jack B Du, where participants learn how to create digital sketches through writing code and Phone Videography and Storytelling by filmmakers Samer Arzouni and Lina Younes, who will teach the art of storytelling through the three-act story structure.
For those who are more interested in panel discussions, there will be a range of talks where leading international and regional experts discuss trends and innovations from the industry. Topics to be discussed include interdisciplinary practices within design, new technologies in art, design and craft, and the state of sustainability particularly within the context of architecture.
And for the first time, the d3 Design Market by FLTRD will take place across the week, offering a retail experience full of home-grown pieces spanning fashion, accessories and homeware.
When and Where is Dubai Design Week Happening?
The eighth Dubai Design Week will take place at Dubai Design District from November 8 to 13. The event is open to the public and free to attend.
Made in Tashkeel 12th exhibition - in pictures
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Made in Tashkeel brings together more than 90 works by 42 artists. All photos: Tashkeel -
Various cultural and industrial backgrounds are reflected in the exhibited artworks. -
The summer exhibition is the 12th Made in Tashkeel event and will be running until August 31. -
The line-up includes emerging and established artists from the UAE. -
The works have all been made in the past year at Tashkeel’s facilities or in collaboration with the institution. -
Badr Abbas, also a member of Tashkeel, mishmashes local pop culture references in his acrylic paintings, which feature jerseys of local football teams layered against dirham coins and ghutra fabric in Cubist arrangements. -
The exhibited artworks are made across a range of mediums — from jewellery to architecturally inspired designs and photography. -
The majority of the Made in Tashkeel submissions were made, in whole or in part, using Tashkeel’s specialist equipment, artist workspaces and facilities.
