Introducing Dubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’



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Press kit - Press release - IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week

Introducing Dubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dubai Design Week


Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2015-08-11 –

Dubai’s first Design Week, 26 – 31 October 2015, will be an annual citywide event which aims to place Dubai on the map as the emerging design capital of the world. 

Established by Art Dubai Group in partnership with Dubai Design District (d3) and supported by Dubai  Design and Fashion Council and, under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice Chairman, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, Dubai Design Week represents a key milestone in the Emirate’s journey towards achieving global recognition as a leading design hub.

 

A global meeting place for design this October, Dubai Design Week announces two key initiatives: ‘Abwab’, a showcase of emerging and established talent from six different countries in the MENASA region; and ‘Destination’, a showcase of innovative new talents from six global design weeks.

 

INTRODUCING: ‘ABWAB’ AT DUBAI DESIGN WEEK

A major initiative within the inaugural Dubai Design Week (26-31 October), Abwab is a series of six pavilions built to celebrate and showcase the work of the most exciting designers, studios and curators from six different countries in the MENASA region.

• Jordan • Kuwait • Pakistan • Saudi Arabia • Tunisia • UAE

‘Abwab’, which means ‘doors’ in Arabic, is a unique initiative that will act as a direct portal onto the region’s local design talent. A curator from each participating country has been elected to lead the designers to work individually or collectively and generate never before-seen design content under one unifying theme, this year being – Games: The Element of Play in Culture. Designers are invited to investigate the games of their countries and how the tools and rules of a place might be understood through its more playful activities.

Across the six purpose-built environments, Abwab will give the designers the opportunity to represent their country’s aesthetic, and in doing so to further define the increasingly rich design language of the region. Abwab will encourage and enable designers to make new connections with other professionals and influencers within the region while also providing them with an entry point to an international marketplace.

Rawan Kashkoush, Creative Director of Abwab, comments: “In a relatively new city like Dubai, there are few trodden paths for designers. Nurturing a homegrown industry – and supporting that throughout region – means creating opportunities for emerging talent.

“Creativity, art and design act as vehicles for movement, as license to communicate without words. Being a part of this growing design community grants access to the thinkers and makers of the region: design is a passport, design has been my passport.”

Integrated into the walkways and open areas of Dubai Design District (d3), the six 50 square metre pavilions have been designed by UAE-based firm, Loci Architecture + Design, to be identical in size and shape, acting as capsules to house each country equally  and for visitors to immerse themselves totally in the worlds within.

In order to contextualize the pavilions, the skins are composed of sand, an abundant yet underused local material adapted to perform as intelligent climate control and a veil between the exhibit and audiences before entry. Loci has adopted new techniques and modelling real- size mock-ups to achieve the end results.

Hamad Khoory, Partner at Loci Architecture + Design says: “The greatest challenge for us, was how to design a pavilion that suited our aesthetics both from the inside and outside without affecting the curations of the interior. We selected sand as the structure’s core material; a  playful material in the way it moves, accumulates, shifts and the endless interactions we had with it growing up.”

FEATURED CURATORS

Mobius Design Studio (UAE) is a Dubai-based trio of visual communication designers whose approach spans a wide range of design disciplines, from experimenting with kinetic typography to Design House, a curated space of non-commercial design created for Dubai’s Sikka Art Fair.

Waleed Shaalan (Kuwait) is a multidisciplinary architect, artist and storyteller, who is not only the recipient of a series of awards, but has worked with a number of design firms from Perkins and Will in Chicago to SSH Design in Kuwait and has collaborated with esteemed organisations including Atelier Jean Nouvel and Cloud 9 Barcelona.

Salman Jawed (Pakistan) melds new ideas with local materials to create a hybrid of past and present. Leading the way in industrial design in his native country, Jawed is the co-founder of Karachi-based studio, Coalesce

Arini Creative Platforms (Jordan) is a creative platform that promotes learning in the fields of design, architecture and urbanism. Founded by a trio of architects, the programme endeavours to expand the boundaries of architecture and urbanism through projects and publications.

Basma and Noura Bouzo (Saudi Arabia) are sisters, who between them have helped grow the Saudi art and design scene with their magazine Oasis and the launch of the Saudi Design Week.

Chacha Atallah (Tunisia) showcases her scrupulous eye for detail, which is evident in her collections from ceramic stoneware to furniture build with Tunisian artisans. The founder of architectural firm, Fleury Attalah, she trained in Japan at practices including Shigeru Ban and Kengo Kuma.

INTRODUCING: ‘DESTINATION’ AT DUBAI DESIGN WEEK 

 

The launch of Dubai Design Week (26–31 October) is not only set to celebrate and showcase the most exciting emerging designers and studios operating in the Middle East, it will also champion the work of pioneering young design brands from six other fledgling design-week cities around the world: 

 

• Beijing • Helsinki • Istanbul  • Melbourne • Mexico City • San Francisco 

 

Each participating city presents a co-curated collection of three of their leading young brands, thus giving them the opportunity to present their creativity and craftsmanship to the buyers, designers and visitors attending the event. Entitled ‘Destination’, this unique cultural design exchange is intended to highlight Dubai’s role as a global design hub, and to provide an entry point into the worldwide design scene for both the local and international talents of tomorrow.  

 

‘Destination’ has been set up to provide a commercial platform for promoting young design brands and will enable them to connect with the region’s trade professionals and influencers. Established in cooperation with trade fair and Design Week centrepiece Downtown Design, Destination will play a key part in Dubai Design Week’s mission to provide a commercial platform for smaller, creative design brands from all over the world. 

 

Rue Kothari, Fair Director of Downtown Design said: “We are thrilled to present these 18 emerging international brands at Downtown Design in Dubai. They each represent the spirit of their city; showcasing lighting, furniture and textiles, expressed with indigenous materials, traditional craftsmanship, innovative technology and a strong contemporary aesthetic that will both broaden the diversity of the fair, and provide a breath of inspiration for all visitors.” 

 

Not only does ‘Destination’ provide a showcase for partner design weeks in the Middle East but the arrangement is also reciprocal. Dubai will Guest City at Beijing Design Week 2015 in September. 

          

FEATURED BRANDS 

 

Beijing Design Week presents characteristically playful work from the Shanghai- and New York-based Benwu Studio, alongside contemporary furniture by Zao Zuo and imaginative industrial products from EOQ. 

 

Helsinki Design Week brings the sustainable wooden furniture of Nikari to Dubai, as well as evocative lighting designs from Saas and Johanna Gullichsen’s remarkable reinterpretations of traditional Finnish textile patterns. 

 

Istanbul Design Week contributes bold wooden furniture from Halit Berker; crafted objects in natural materials from Day Studio, plus an insight into the welcoming modern interior spaces that Escape from Sofa’s furniture can create 

 

Melbourne International Design Week introduces Dubai to the bespoke, handcrafted lighting of Christopher Boots, the strong and simple lamps of André Hnatojko, and the lighting and furniture of Jonathan Ben Tovin, who is unveiling a new work exclusively for Dubai Design Week. 

 

Mexico City’s Albierto de Diseno is represented by Ediciones Jalapa, who have created a collection of objects reinterpreted through artisanal traditions across Mexico; home wares, accessories and soft furnishings that merge heritage and modernity from Tributo; and furniture and lighting from LCMX, a Mexico City architecture and design studio specialising in solid wood. 

 

San Francisco Design Week exhibits lighting for small spaces from architect-founded, crowdfunded company Hello Lumio, collaboratively crafted furniture from Council Design and luxuriously comfortable outdoor seating from Galanter & Jones

 
For more information, visit: www.dubaidesignweek.ae

@dubaidesignweek #DXBDW #DXBDW2015  


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Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - The design of Abwab pavilion by loci Architecture + Design  - Photo credit: Loci Architecture + Design

The design of Abwab pavilion by loci Architecture + Design

Photo credit:
Loci Architecture + Design

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition -  Partners of loci Architecture + Design <br>Hani Fallaha and Hamad Khoory   - Photo credit: loci Architecure + Design

Partners of loci Architecture + Design 
Hani Fallaha and Hamad Khoory

Photo credit:
loci Architecure + Design

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - The exterior design of  the Abwab pavilion by loci Architecture + Design  - Photo credit: loci Architecture + Design

The exterior design of  the Abwab pavilion by loci Architecture + Design

Photo credit:
loci Architecture + Design

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - The interior of the  Abwab pavilion by loci Architecture + Design  - Photo credit: loci Architecture + Design

Partners of loci Architecture + Design 
Hani Fallaha and Hamad Khoory

Photo credit:
loci Architecture + Design

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - The design of Abwab pavilion by loci Architecture + Design  - Photo credit:  loci Architecture + Design

The design of Abwab pavilion by loci Architecture + Design

Photo credit:
loci Architecture + Design

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Being Design Week :  4×4 -Vessels by Benwu-Studio

Photo credit:
Benwu-Studio

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - Beijing Design Week - Orsted Desk composed of Pale gold and walnut situ.by EOQ - Photo credit: EOQ

Beijing Design Week – Orsted Desk composed of Pale gold and walnut situ.by EOQ

Photo credit:
EOQ

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - Beijing Design Week - Freelancer chair by Zao Zuo - Photo credit: Zao Zuo

Beijing Design Week – Freelancer chair by Zao Zuo

Photo credit:
Zao Zuo

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - Ediciones Jalapa representing Abierto de Diseno Mexico  - Photo credit: Ediciones Jalapa

Ediciones Jalapa representing Abierto de Diseno Mexico 

Photo credit:
Ediciones Jalapa

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Helsinki Design Week : April tables by Nikari

Photo credit:
Nikari

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - Melbourne Design Week - ORP by Christopher Boots - Photo credit: Christopher Boots

Melbourne Design Week – ORP by Christopher Boots

Photo credit:
Christopher Boots

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - Beijing Design Week : Omni Table by Zao Zuo - Photo credit: Max Gerthel

Beijing Design Week : Omni Table by Zao Zuo

Photo credit:
Max Gerthel

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - Melbourne Design Week : Popper for LAB DE STU by Andre Hnatojko<br> - Photo credit: LAB DE STU

Melbourne Design Week : Popper for LAB DE STU by Andre Hnatojko

Photo credit:
LAB DE STU

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - Melbourne Design Week : Prometheus III by Christopher Boots - Photo credit:  John Tsiavis

Melbourne Design Week : Prometheus III by Christopher Boots

Photo credit:
John Tsiavis

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - Istanbul Design Week : Orta Platter by Day Studio  - Photo credit: Day Studio

Istanbul Design Week : Orta Platter by Day Studio

Photo credit:
Day Studio

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - Melbourne Design Week : Rough Diamond Chandelier in Bras                      by Ben- Tovim Design  <br> - Photo credit: Ben- Tovim Design

Melbourne Design Week : Rough Diamond Chandelier in Bras                      by Ben- Tovim Design  

Photo credit:
Ben- Tovim Design

Press kit | 1834-01 - Press release | IntroducingDubai Design Week key initiatives: ‘Abwab’ and ‘Destination’ - Dubai Design Week - Event + Exhibition - Helsinki Design Week :  Sofa and Curtain by JohannaGullichsen - Photo credit: JohannaGullichsen

Helsinki Design Week :  Sofa and Curtain by JohannaGullichsen

Photo credit:
JohannaGullichsen



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