Everyone's talking about Design Days Dubai, the Middle East's first exhibition for collectable design art. Here's what I'll be looking out for.
Founded in 1979, the Milan-based Nilufar gallery is proud of its unmistakable style, which is "always eclectic, novel, unexpected". Nilufar will present pieces by Maarten De Ceulaer, including his Chest of Briefcases from the Leather collection, which featured on our Autumn/Winter 2012/2013 trendboard, CraftPunk.
There are also some cool, resin-cube seating designs from Robino and Occleppo, as well as Tjep's laser cut Chair of Textures for Droog, and exquisite new pieces from Joseph Walsh. His celebrated Enignum canopy bed was crafted from just two pieces of wood. Joseph stripped the wood into thin layers, manipulating them into a sculptural form that embraces and protects the user.
I'm fascinated by lighting and I find oversized designs particularly captivating. So I'll be heading over to South African gallery Southern Guild to see the Enchanted Faraway Tree chandelier by Willowlamp. This asymmetrical, tiered chandelier is made of metal bead chains and curved metal "branches" that hang from one another to create a mystical and enchanting piece. Adam Hoets, a registered architect, and Sian Eliot, an accomplished jeweller, are the creative forces behind Willowlamp, and they arrived at lighting design by chance, after experimenting with industrial chains.
Also featured within our Autumn/Winter 2012/2013 trend forecast are the works of Florian Schmid, Johannes Hemann, Raw Edges and Sylvain Willenz, who are all represented by the Brussels-based design-art dealer, collector and adviser Victor Hunt. Hunt's aim is to find and support remarkable emerging designers, curating exhibitions based on a particular "designer, material or approach that strikes him as particularly representative of today's evolutions". Watch for Schmid's Stitching Concrete stools, lighting from Hemaan's Storm Series and the Coiling Collection from Raw Edges - all displaying key characteristics of coming interiors trends.
Established in London in 2004 by Loic Le Gaillard and Julien Lombrail, Carpenters Workshop Gallery is known for its discovery of bold and iconic design-art. It will showcase new pieces produced specifically for Design Days Dubai.
Meanwhile, Carwan began in 2010 as a pop-up gallery in Beirut, and has recently commissioned designers - including the UAE's Khalid Shafar, Lindsey Adelman from America and Lebanon's Nada Debs - to create a series of new, limited-edition objects in collaboration with local artisans. Each piece "re-imagin[es] a distinct, time-honoured craft".
Shelley Pond is the creative director of Scarlet Opus. For more information visit www.trendsblog.co.uk or twitter.com/scarletopus
