Eyes on the future at Design Days Dubai 2015

We speak to Cyril Zamitt, the director of Design Days Dubai, about the fair’s rapid evolution, ahead of its fourth edition.

Design Days Dubai pieces: left, Zaha Hadid’s Liquid Glacial table. Courtesy David Gill Galleries

Selina Denman

Since its launch in 2012, Design Days Dubai has been many things. It has been a vital platform for galleries, both established and emerging, to present their wares to a new market; it has been a place for the uninitiated to come into contact with world-class design and for established collectors to find their next big investment; it has nurtured and shone a spotlight on local talent that may otherwise have been overlooked (the fabulous Khalid Shafar being a case in point); and it has, through wondrous installations, workshops and high-profile speakers, served to educate the masses and start a discourse on design that has led to numerous spin-off initiatives.

“All this energy that has been created around Design Days Dubai has been so amazing for us. We are very pleased that we opened the door a little, and now it is wide open,” says Cyril ­Zammit, the director of Design Days Dubai.

But this is still, at its heart, a design fair, Zammit reminds us. “A lot of people still believe that Design Days Dubai is an exhibition. People need to understand that this is a fair – which means that the pieces are for sale. I’m really trying to explain to people that this is collectable design, and also explain that you can start collecting with US$1,000 [Dh3,673] – you don’t need millions of ­dollars.

“When people think of a fair, they seem to think that you can only find pieces that cost more than $300,000, which is not the case. One of the pieces we have this year is $1,000. So you just need to ask and be curious, because something that looks amazing and super-prestigious might not be expensive. Despite the fact that design has a function, you need to look at these pieces as artistic creations. Yes, it’s a chair, but look beyond that.”

So what’s the difference between art and design, in Zammit’s eyes? “It’s a very thin line,” he admits. “I personally give this definition: if you use the chair, it is design; if you put it on a pedestal, it becomes an art piece. But I think a lot of people here are not looking past the functionality of the piece.”

To encourage people to invest, Design Days Dubai must continue to educate – something that has been a part of its remit since its launch. Three years ago, when the show made its debut, Zammit and his team were dealing with a market that was largely unfamiliar with the concept of collectable design. This is changing gradually, but the fair has also had to adapt along the way. In its first year, for example, it focused heavily on 20th-century or vintage design; four editions later, this focus has shifted firmly to contemporary pieces.

“This is what the market wanted. The first year was a clear learning curve. But vintage will come back. When there is a saturation of one style, you definitely look for others.”

After the second edition of Design Days, Zammit remembers someone telling him that he had “opened the book from the middle”. He explains: “Bringing the top pieces from Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London is great, but a lot of people don’t have the historical information needed to appreciate those pieces. When people see a wooden Charlotte Perriand table that costs $90,000, they need to understand why it is worth $90,000. And you can’t do that until you position Charlotte Perriand properly.”

A cursory glance at the 2015 gallery line-up reveals another important shift. Where in the early days the exhibitor list was firmly weighted towards international galleries, this year, 19 of the 44 exhibitors come from the Mena region. This is a telling reflection of the growing profile of design in this part of the world, a trend that Design Days Dubai has been instrumental in shaping.

At the same time, the fair continues to attract high-profile international galleries; in addition to stalwarts such as Carpenters and South Africa’s Southern Guild, new this year are the highly respected David Gill Galleries and Gallery Fumi. The geographical reach is also growing, with first-time participation in 2015 from Taiwan and China, in the form of Gallery All.

“I’m happy to see China here as a master and not just a copy master, because we forget that before the country became known for its copies, it was a master in design; it has some amazing work to show.”

In having its own fair dedicated entirely to design, Dubai is in good company – only Basel, London, Paris, Miami and New York can make the same claim. So how does this home-grown show aim to set itself apart for another year?

“We definitely want to remain true to our claim to being the most diverse design fair. This specifically reflects the image of Dubai. When we created Design Days Dubai in 2012, we wanted to position it as the fair of discovery. You definitely have that benchmark because you have the big players such as Carpenters Gallery, but at the same time we opened the doors to new talent.

“There’s real fair fatigue around at the moment. If you are fortunate enough to go to a lot of fairs, it is quite likely that you will be seeing a lot of the same things. That’s why we are quite proud that we are bringing a very different line-up.”

• Design Days Dubai will take place from March 16 to 20 at The Venue, Downtown Dubai

Beyond Design Days Dubai

Even if you know nothing about art and design, make a point of heading to La Galerie Nationale this month to check out its latest exhibition, Art Pulse.

The exhibition will feature work by some of the biggest names in art and design, including Ron Arad, Damien Hirst, Jean Prouvé and Andy Warhol. Highlights include Hirst’s Skull on Spin, a lobster print by Andy Warhol and Arad’s Big Easy armchair.

Launched to coincide with Dubai’s Art Week and Design Days Dubai, Art Pulse is a nod to the evolution of Dubai’s art-and-design scene, says the gallery director Guillaume Cuiry. “It’s very simple. I have seen a huge evolution in Dubai’s art-and-design scene in recent years.

“In 2015, we are opening the Louvre, we have the extension of Al Serkal, we are preparing for [Expo] 2020 and you have new art-and-design authorities; things are changing and moving in a good direction. I wanted to take the opportunity of the art fair to send the message to international art lovers and art collectors that, yes, we are an amazing place for local art, but we are also a destination for international art.”

1971

Sharjah is home to a new multifunctional space dedicated to design in all its various forms – from graphics and furniture to interiors and interactive. By hosting a mixture of curated exhibitions and public programmes, 1971 aims to become a regional and international hub for design, and plans to work closely with local designers, architects, schools and universities.

The venue, which is located on The Flag Island in Sharjah and opened this week, will also be home to an informal meeting venue and cafe, which is scheduled to open after the summer.

A project by the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), 1971 was developed by Sharjah’s Maraya Art Centre and is an important indicator of the growing profile of design in the UAE. “There is no other not-for-profit entity dedicated to design in the region,” Giuseppe Moscatello, the manager of the Maraya Art Centre, points out. “This will be an important platform to help designers to develop ideas and creativity.”

The gallery’s first exhibition is being held in association with the environmental management company Bee’ah, and features designs crafted out of recyclable and sustainable materials.

If you can’t make your way to Sharjah this week, the gallery will also be exhibiting at Design Days Dubai, with an installation that “attempts to showcase a physical representation of the graphical process underlying the formation of arabesque patterns”. It will make more sense when it’s in front of you, we promise.

The Design Shop by S*uce

Fans of unusual, regionally inspired objects will be happy to hear that S*uce Gifts is metamorphosing into a new, more design-centric concept called The Design Shop by S*uce. With fewer knick-knacks and more bona-fide design, the rebranded store will remain in Al Wasl Square and offers free valet parking.

In typical S*uce fashion, the new concept will showcase regular and exclusive collaborations with established and emerging artists. This month and next month, the store will be launching exclusive collections by three established artists: Latifa Saeed, Khalid Shafar and Corinne Martin.

The multidisciplinary Emirati artist and designer Saeed is known for creating designs inspired by the UAE’s cultural identity. S*uce will be offering a series of functional pieces, including customisable headboards, benches and stools that draw on Saeed’s signature “braided” technique.

“Through a long design process, I developed a braiding process that is a soft sculpture and can be upholstered and manipulated in several ways. The process and pattern of braiding evoked happy memories from my childhood. Both the material and handmade techniques are simple and timeless, resulting in a traditional Emirati design that feels contemporary and playful,” Saeed says.

The Design Shop by S*uce will also become the first store to exclusively carry Shafar’s new signature candles, as well as exclusive works of art by the Paris-born, Riyadh-based artist Corinne Martin, who interprets Arab pop-inspired iconography into her mixed-media installations and paintings. The Design Shop will be offering a series of exclusive paintings framed with lights from Martin’s Love and Peace series.