A market of ‘out of box’ ideas
dubai — The Burj Park has become the perfect place to hang out until January 20 with the fifth edition of Market Outside The Box (MOTB), a unique Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) event, which is in full swing.
As the name suggests, the open air market features about 120 emerging, talented regional designers, shining the spotlight on some of the best homegrown and artisanal products from independent retailers across the city. Most of the products at this market are based on ‘out of the box’ ideas and also focus on being eco-friendly, keeping the sustainability goals in mind.
The MOTB also features the firstever truck used by the people of determination to move around and hold sustainability workshops on beautiful indoor plant arrangements. A group of people of determination and a supervisor, who are part of the social enterprise Enable, have put up a stall inside and outside the truck for the public to see the indoor plant arrangements.
Their supervisor Ramy told Khaleej Times that every plant used at the Enable has been planted by the people of determination. When the plant is sold, 15 per cent of each plant will be given to the person of determination who looked after it.
Among other quirky yet ecological creations at the MOTB is a stall called Mango Beat that has designed natural speakers made out of mango wood from Thailand. “The idea was to make something of utility in an ecological way. We went to Thailand and found out that trees that are 30 years old yield a lot less fruits so the farmers would just cut them down. We repurposed that wood and made them into speakers for cellphones. The long wooden speakers have a slit in the middle where you can place your cellphone and play your music. So this is an apt creation for today’s technological age and you require no electricity, no wire, no batteries,” said Lebanese vendor Charles, the owner of Mango Beat.
Mohammed Athar Sameer, a 28-year-old Indian vendor at MOTB, said his small kiosk of unique collections from across the world was based on the concept of Global Village of Dubai. “I was inspired by the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to bring the whole world to one place and that was the concept behind Global Village. Hence I founded Firangi Bazar. I have displayed different collectibles from different countries such as Vietnam, Africa and India and all of them have a story attached to them. They are unique handmade stuff made by poor uneducated workers and the vision behind this brand is to promote these people who don’t have the platform to display their skills and have no means to reach out to the outside world.
Interestingly a health and nutrition shop titled MySixPak had displayed some tempting confectionary outside their stall to attract customers. Adel Aktouf, co-founder of the meal plan company, explained that the sweets were actually guilt-free pastries that were not actually sweets but protein bakeries sweetened with a natural plant, with limited amount of fat and carbs such as protein tiramisu.
In addition to the exciting selection of retailers at this year’s MOTB, there are also a host of activities such as Pilates classes and an outdoor cinema, as well as entertainment including a mesmerising magician, hip hop performances and a DJ. Not forgetting the mini shoppers, some very special bedtime story-reading sessions are also taking place for kids to enjoy each night.