The 10th edition of Dubai Design Week kicked off yesterday and runs until Sunday. It features more than 500 designers, brands and creatives from at least 40 countries, and showcases works that range from the practical to the experimental. The aim? To push the boundaries of creativity and further cement Dubai’s status as the region’s design hub. Here are five takeaways from the opening day.
Invest in the best
The likes of Abu Dhabi and Dubai have long imported starchitects for major works – a tendency that I long assumed would have a negative effect on the strength of the local scene. But Paris-based designer India Mahdavi, who is in Dubai presenting work with CC-Tapis, proves otherwise. “What’s interesting is that every time these architects come to town, they host a workshop sharing their knowledge,” she says. “That’s a good thing for the local community.”
If the works on show at a Royal Institute of British Architects-backed exhibition at Dubai Design Week are anything to go by, the future’s looking bright. Designs by students from Heriot-Watt University Dubai, Abu Dhabi University, the American University in Dubai and the American University of Sharjah felt both contemporary and contextually appropriate.
Sensory overload
BMW and Arianna Bavuso and Andre Chedid, of multi-disciplinary practice AB+AC Architects, created a pavilion that not only looked good but smelled good too. It upholstered a boxy structure with plush peach pillows and placed a bowl filled with rose oil in its centre, providing a moment of calm and reminding designers that good design should engage all of our senses.
Presentation is important
A quick note for those presenting at design events across the world. Invest in physical installations – just ensure that the materials are sourced sensibly. There are few things more disheartening than travelling from one country to another just to watch a pitch on a TV screen. The most memorable stands in Dubai were those that had some mass behind them.
Honour the regional vernacular
It can be common for architects working in rapidly developing regions such as the Gulf to ape the dominant design language of the time. The result is that in Dubai, much of the newer architecture has a Western feel (landing at DXB, you’re immediately hit with ads for Italianate developments overlooking the Creek). But a pavilion designed by Ross Lovegrove and Ila Colombo of Dubai-based studio Deond shows that this doesn’t have to be the case. Its design feels highly modern while drawing inspiration from traditional forms of Arabic architecture.
Material evolution
You will read a lot more about materials in the stories below (it’s a hot topic). But I want to take this chance to highlight the evolution of one particular material: mycelium. When it first started to emerge in the mainstream more than a decade ago, it often looked like dirty papier-mâché. Now, it’s a sleek, appealing material. Designers Dima Al Srouri, Dalia Hamati, Andy Cartier and Rosa Hämäläinen showed this with their “Reroot” installation at Dubai Design Week, creating modular shelters from an impressive mycelium-based material that looks more like solid stone than pulped paper.
Read on for highlights from the Dubai Design District, also known as D3, where the installations, exhibitions and workshops highlighted below are now on show.
Nic Monisse is Monocle’s design editor.