Dubai Design Week is just around the corner. Taking place across the city from October 24th – 29th, the event opens up the region’s design scene, allowing the public to discover and engage with established and up-and-coming creative forces. Comprised of exhibitions, workshops, panel discussions and performances by over 150 designers. We’ve highlighted five events well worth attending.
A Modular Moment with Salama Khalfan
6-9pm Wednesday October 26th
Galleria Mall, Jumeirah
Emirati designer Salama Khalfan demonstrates the cutting-edge, modular aspect of her fine jewellery collection. From five-in-one earrings to an ornamental hair piece that transforms into a pendant, her clever designs put a versatile spin on fine jewellery. Thanks to complex inner mechanics, the Shahnan collection features multiple modular jewels which facilitate not only customisation, but also multi-purpose usability and flexible arrangement through intelligent interchanging inserts.
Sustainable Creativity
8-9pm Thursday October 27th
The Atrium, Building 4, Dubai Design District
This panel discussion explores how the design industry employs creativity through different approaches, such as collaborating with guest designers or through programmes that recognise and celebrate emerging new talents, all while successfully integrating the DNA of all the parties involved.
Landscape Fields, In Memory of Zaha Hadid
6-7pm Tuesday October 25th
The Atrium, Building 4, Dubai Design District
Grounded within the study of landscape and field across Hadid’s body of work, this panel discussion, organised in association with Zaha Hadid Architects, seeks to engage a conversation around the her legacy and work within the Arab world.
Exploring themes of landscape and environment as both performative and representational attributes through the lens of a selection of projects within the region, the talk will shed light on the conceptual, formal, and structural strategies deployed in various locales to create architecture that, while innovative in its realisation, maintains a deeply rooted and synchronistic relationship with its surrounding context.
Transformations: The Emirati National House
6-7pm Wednesday October 26th
The Atrium, Building 4, Dubai Design District
A conversation between Yasser Elsheshtawy, curator of the UAE National Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia 2016 and Adina Hempel, Architect, Assistant Professor at Zayed University. Drawing from the book "Transformations: The Emirati National House”, the discussion will focus on the exhibition, and the research of the transformations of the Emirati national house through the years.
Restoring the World’s Oldest Library: Keynote by Aziza Chaouni
7-8pm Monday 24th October
The Atrium, Building 4, Dubai Design District
The Qaraweyeen Library was founded in 859, as part of the Qaraweyeen Mosque and University in Fez, Morocco. The Qaraweyeen complex is considered the oldest existing and first degree awarding educational institution in the world according to UNESCO. The creation of the complex was the brainchild of Fes Resident, Fatima El-Fihriya who wished to make knowledge available to all residents of her city and beyond.The recent restoration of the library by architect Aziza Chaouni was an opportunity to further extend and develop Fatima El-Fihriya’s legacy.
