Collective brilliance
This past month will surely go down in history as Dubai’s biggest design month ever…
The marathon celebration of local and international design started with the inaugural id Design Awards gala ceremony, held in association with DEPA, at the new InterContinental Dubai Marina…
Over 300 guests attended the amazing event in the company of our prestigious judges, who including Head of Jury Marco Piva and Richard Hutten. The night provided numerous surprises – with our winners walking away with Alvar Aalto-designed trophies from Iittala, and Philippe Starck-designed prizes and gifts from Alessi.
Overall winner Desert INK – voted for on the night by our guests – also received a weekend’s stay at Milan’s new Excelsior Gallia Hotel, designed by Marco Piva. See page 122 for the full list of winners, or visit our Facebook page. The very next day Dubai’s first ever Design Week was inaugurated, bringing into town a plethora of high-profile guests from the regional and global design scene, including Paul Thompson, Rector of the Royal Collage of Art;designer Bernard Khoury; and Rana Salam, curator of ‘ Iconic City: Brilliant Beirut’. Others who jetted in for the week’s design marathon included Humberto Campana, Nadja Swarovski and Kartell’s Lorenza Luti, to name but a handful.
The following day saw the glamorous VIP opening of the third edition of the annual Downtown Design trade fair, part of the Dubai Design Week programme. This year’s edition of was the biggest to-date and introduced a lot of new companies to this market. Leading Danish brand Georg Jensen’s home collection was introduced to the market while new brands such as Munna and Ginger & Jagger, both from Portugal, also made their premier appearances.
Spearheaded by Cyril Zammit, the Design Week extravaganza saw various design events being staged throughout the city – including the exhibition of origami designs at Nakkash Gallery, new collection launches at Ethan Allen, and a number of events organised by Emirati designers – led by Khalid Shafar in the increasingly fashionable Ras Al Khor industrial zone.
Earlier in the month history was also made in Abu Dhabi when the final section of the roof of the Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre was put in place, just in time for it to scoop Project of the Future in the id Design Awards.
Back in Dubai, Japanese luxury car firm Lexus – which has been gradually increasing its presence in the global design scene through design sponsorships – has announced the opening of its custom-built ‘ Intersect by Lexus’ hub in the trendy DIFC area. This unique lounge-cum-eatery space – designed by the founder of Wonderwall Interior, designer Masamichi Katayama – is poised to be a new source of inspiration and a place to view some exciting new Lexus auto technology and more…
The über-chic Ermenegildo Zegna brand has also been spreading its designer wings in these parts, with the recent opening of its new Peter Marino-designed store in Mall of the Emirates.
As we look forward to November, many of the glamorous design events of Dubai Design Week will be replaced with the Big 5 trade show, which this year – for the first time – is focusing much of the accompanying talks on design. Some local architects and visiting experts will be sharing their views and aspirations there…
Once again, congratulations to all the winners of the inaugural id Design Awards. The whole process proved to extremely exhilarating and above all brought the local design community closer to the id editorial team. We’re already looking forward to sharing your exciting projects with our readers in the months to come…
Congratulations to all!!!