Postcard from Dubai Design Week 2024: the highlights

Dubai Design Week 2024, the tenth edition of the largest design fair in the Middle East, ran from 5-10 November in the D3 Design District, with more than 1,000 acclaimed and emerging designers, brands and creative leaders from over 50 countries on show.

Known for its diverse programming, the fair marked a decade by expanding even further, with a new showcase titled Editions, dedicated to collectible design, joining the established roster of Downtown Design, the Abwab public installations programme and the annual Urban Commission, plus much more. Here’s what caught our eye.

Dubai Design Week 2024 highlights

Downtown Design

The headline event of Dubai Design Week (DDW), Downtown Design returned to the Waterfront Terrace, with a diverse programme of established and emerging designers and practices from across the world. Spotlighting new collections and multidisciplinary innovations, the event also hosted pop-up concepts and installations, focused on the latest trends in design.

The Forum, where talks and master classes are staged, was this year designed by Lebanon’s Thomas Trad – an intimate minimalist space in soothing forest greens and burnt orange – with a curved three-seater sofa by Heilig Objects, that acted as anchor amidst the hustle of the fair.

Eye-catching showcases this year included Natascha Maksimovic’s collaboration with Knot Rugs, taking her Japanese ink-marbled wallpapers and reproducing them as rugs, as well as exploring the use of the paper as a marble backsplash alternative. India-based lighting company Oorjaa presented its incredible lamps made from recycled lokta, banana fibre paper, upcycled cork and quarry waste, creating beautiful organic forms from sustainable materials. Emirati design incubator Tashkeel exhibited a number of new sustainable furniture pieces conceived and created by participants in its latest Tanween Design Programme – such as ‘Kashi,’ a stackable and modular dynamic form of clay block stools/tables by Rimsha Kidwai, and ‘The Sanad Collection’ coffee table, which celebrates the beauty of off-cut travertine stone, by Samara and The Poet Studio.

Urban Commission: TukTukDum by Altqadum

Created by Omani architectural firm Altqadum, the winning project of this year’s Urban Commission was inspired by the Gulf region’s musical traditions, often bringing people together in public spaces in a participatory fashion. ‘TukTukDum’ responds to this year’s commission theme of ‘Tawila’ (meaning table) by merging interactive music with a 5.5m-long table, inviting the public to become performers. Openings in the table’s surface allowed up to three people to stand inside the gaps and play the traditional hide-covered Omani drums. A performance by professional drummers was staged during the week, but the playful installation also drew many in to try their hand at music.

Abwab Installations

The annual Abwab programme (meaning ‘doors’ in Arabic) acts as a gateway to new ideas, with an open call for installations from across the SWANA region, focused on cultural heritage, socially-conscious design and material innovation.

This year’s winning projects included Iraqi designer Ola Saad Znad’s ‘A Present/ Absent Mudhif’, focusing on the native architectural heritage of the Marsh Arabs in Iraq, which is in danger of disappearing due to drought. Crafted from locally sourced reeds and mud, the installation mirrors the traditional Mudhif structures that have served as villages for generations. Znad hopes to preserve this vernacular architecture for future generations, and look at ways to keep this sustainable building technique alive and thriving.

Ethiopian designer Miriam Hillawi Abraham’s ‘Material Witnesses and Narrating Lifeforms’ takes inspiration from the coral stone found in early East African coast and UAE settlements. Her installation uses coral as a living, dynamic element, combined with wax, tulle and salt – reminiscent of a climbing wall or organisms organically growing on a structure – seeking to engage visitors in a space of reflection.

‘ReRoot’ by Dima Al Srouri, Dalia Hamati, Andy Cartier and Rosa Hamalainen explores emergency housing solutions – especially within the current context of the war in Gaza – using palm waste and mycelium, a material derived from fungi. The self-assembly housing kit prototype aims to allow communities the means to build their own shelters and structures using local materials, with a modular design that can be tailored to the purpose and size of the needed building.

Design Next X Isola Design Group

Entitled ‘Design Next’, this new exhibition was the first joint initiative between d3 and Milan-based Isola Design Group, which just announced its new regional headquarters in the Middle East in Dubai. Focused on circular economy and sustainable design, the showcase spotlighted designers experimenting with new materials and innovative, practical design. Leaning into problem-solving for daily life or alternative materials for the design market, highlights included a series of biodegradable plantable phone cases by Italian firm iGreen, which it claimed could replace 20,000 tons of plastic cases every year. Emirati product DesertBoard uses date palm waste with zero formaldehyde, which can be employed for furniture, flooring, temporary structures or even fire doors.

UAE Design Exhibition curated by Omar Al Gurg

This specially curated section of Downtown Design championed the work of emerging UAE-based designers, working with local materials and crafting objects that resonate with people seeking to slow down and find design that creates a peaceful, meditative space. ‘Nasab Bookcase’ by Chafic Mekawi is the ultimate bookcase for people who can never decide how to display their collection. Thanks to its spinning pedestals arranged across a series of arches inspired by Levantine architecture, the user can always have multiple book faces on display. Meanwhile, ‘Tansej’, meaning ‘she weaves’, is a collaboration between UAE artist Noura Al Serkal and Atelier Talasin's women weavers, rooted in Amazigh culture in the Atlas Mountains. The project resulted in a stunning, colourful rug made from rare Siroua sheep wool, dyed with local plants, utilising the revived ancient Berber Knot, which had nearly vanished.

Editions

New to DDW, Editions is the region’s first limited-edition art and design fair, and made its debut during design week alongside Downtown Design. Showcasing a variety of collectible works from over 50 galleries, design studios and collectives, this new event offered contemporary design, photography, prints, ceramics and works on paper from both established and emerging creators. Lebanese designer Samer Selbak’s ‘Reef’ uses luffa coloured in various periwinkle blues from cabbage dyes to create geometric wall hangings and light shades in unusual shapes. At Dubai-based Hestia Gallery, Helene de Saint-lager – known for her pieces at Louis Vuitton and Chanel stores worldwide and the new VIP lounge at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport – showcased a stunning lilac resin table embedded with seashells collected from holidays, simmering strands and coral-like plants that captivated viewers.

‘Neo-Majlis’ by Future Bedouin

Merging nomadic traditions with modern AI technology, Future Bedouin is known for its fantastical creations that reimagine traditional Arab architecture with a futuristic twist. At DDW, the group transformed one of its AI inventions into a physical installation. ‘Neo-Majlis’ merged the essence of the classic majlis (a communal gathering space in Arab architecture) with contemporary design, resulting in a striking structure made from translucent pink inflatables.

The unconventional colour and material acted as a lure to viewers, inviting them into this immersive, dreamlike installation that was intended to spark dialogue, playful interaction and community spirit. It symbolised the adaptability of Dubai’s nomadic heritage, while envisioning a forward-thinking future that is open to experimentation and pushing the boundaries of tradition.

Dubai Design Week 2024 ran 5-10 November, dubaidesignweek.ae