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Revered Lebanese designer Nada Debs, known for her design objects featuring a unique blend of oriental and Arab motifs is showcasing her eponymous brand for the first time in Downtown Design, offering once again an exciting showcase for regional and international designers. For Debs, who recently set up her second base in Dubai and who divides her time between the Gulf megapolis and Beirut, participating at Downtown Design offers her the opportunity to present her brand to a new cohort of collectors, buyers, procurement teams and design enthusiasts. “Our participation marks the brand’s first proper step into Dubai,” says Debs. “We want to use Dubai as a base to celebrate our 20 years. It’s a city that has supported me since I began.” Debs’ design label is a high-end luxury brand featuring highly crafted furniture. “We are also a lifestyle brand that is socially conscious, sustainable in the way that our approach creates a timeless, quality product that stands the test of time,” she adds. “We work mainly in customized furniture”, providing her clients, mainly interior architects and architects, with specially crafted, one-of-a-kind pieces. Debs is also celebrating 20 years of her design company, which she launched in 2001. At the time, she had lived in Beirut for just one year, having grown up in Japan with her family and attending the Rhode Island School of Design. After she graduated, she moved to London and there began making furniture for herself.

Another highlight at this year’s Downtown Design will be the attendance of acclaimed Florentine designer Duccio Maria Gambi who will be unveiling his ‘Tempore’ collection for cc-tapis, presented by Iwan Maktabi, at the fair The collection, which features an alluring design and colour scheme, explores the relationship between the natural and the artificial. 'Tempore' is a Latin term denoting a temporary or provisional period. Gambi’s creative process for the collection of hand-knotted rugs made of Himalayan wool is meant to evoke the temporality of time, with each rug evoking a specific interval of time captured visually as the anatomy of each piece emerges and dissolves. “I named the collection Tempore because I felt it was important to link it to time, to set and define these shapes as a frame frozen and stopped in between what came before and what will happen next,” he explains. “I think that you can have the feeling that something, a shape, was there before and something is happening to give you the results you see in front of you.” Gambi was inspired by the graphic structure that was generated by oil pastels and the ballpoint pen. Where the pastel stimulates a free, wild, and imprecise line, the ballpoint pen pushes towards a more precise, continuous, and rational one. Gambi loves combining such contrasts and opposing entities into four dimensions. Through his designs, Gambi explores the relationship between the natural and the artificial. Before opening his studio and workshop in Paris in 2012, he received a strong theoretical background during his studies in the Radical Design Movement in Florence and his years while studying in Milan. His work has long focused on concrete casting and experimentation and spans bespoke furniture pieces for private clients to research-led one-off designs for design galleries and fashion brands. At the heart of Gambi’s work is visual experimentation. This is found also in the Tempore collection through the coupling of seemingly contrasting elements. His series of rugs features hand-knotted, Himalayan wool rugs replicating drawings with oil pastels and ballpoint pens, a combination of precision and freedom. The resulting creations offer a play of contrasts, colours, and lines, coexisting on the knotted structures in multiple dimensions. “In my works, there is always a constant element a contrast between parts, each of which acts as a background and frame for the other, and these various parts then interact with each other,” explains Gambi. “Quite often the artificial, man-made gesture, serves as a descriptive element for the natural one.” Gambi says he has always been “attracted by contexts where geometry, repetition, clean and visually closed elements are inserted into heterogeneous and lively dynamic natural environments.” Through his work, he loves to find ways where time and nature intersect whether it be through an artificial land, an abandoned building, or a ruin.

We are living today in a world where collaboration is key to technological and artistic innovation. In the design world, this could not be more apparent. Whether it is cultural cross-pollination, a sharing of resources, artistic creation or sustainable collaboration, designers and creatives are increasingly working together to make designs that are at once aesthetically appealing, beautiful and good for the environment. At this year’s Downtown Design, visitors can find a range of collaborations by some of the world’s most esteemed and sought-after creatives. These include collaborations between Illulian, the historic and prestigious 60-year-old Italian rug manufacturer and Zaha Hadid Architects, Paola Navone and Arik Levy among others, on specially designed hand-made carpets.

Taking place 9-12 November, the fair will once again feature large-scale showcases of national presentations alongside a wide array of brands, manufacturers, studios and individual designers from around the world who each year choose to enhance their visibility at the region’s leading design event. This year, the fair will see the return of the country pavilions from leading design centres France, Italy and Spain among others, and will welcome back a range of internationally renowned brands such as Minotti presented by Aati, Cosentino who is producing a creative concept alongside award-winning carpet makers Jaipur Rugs and THG Paris. Newcomers to the fair this year include Fritz Hansen, the Danish design house globally characterized by world-famous classics; Studio Nada Debs that will present a showcase celebrating 20 years of craftsmanship; innovative lighting brand Slamp, showcasing iconic collections including designs by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA); pioneers in the field of architectural lighting, Lutron; unique Italian luxury furniture manufacturer, Philipp Selva; and Huda Lighting who will stage an immersive, multi-brand exhibit. In addition, there will be a number of creative designer collaborations exhibited at the fair, including cc-tapis’ world-premiere of the ’COURSE’ wall-hanging as part of their collection with Duccio Maria Gambi, presented by Iwan Maktabi, the award-winning ‘Liquid’ collection by Tom Dixon for VitrA, and RAK Ceramics return with new pieces to their range with ELIE SAAB, following their debut at Downtown Design in November 2021. The ever-popular Downtown Editions, will this year offer consumers and trade alike an exciting line-up of design galleries and collectives, individual designers and studios who will each present exhibitions of limited-edition works. Read more about the Downtown Editions highlights for this year here. The full 2022 exhibitor list and the line-up of creative concepts and installations will be announced on 1 October.

One aspect of design that consistently woes collectors of art, design and other luxury items, are limited-edition and bespoke pieces that are one-of-a-kind in creation, material and vision. To that end, Downtown Design, the Middle East’s leading design fair presents Downtown Editions, the fair’s boutique showcase of specially made, limited-edition pieces. As the region’s design scene continues to grow and creatives flock to Dubai from around the Middle East and beyond, This year’s Downtown Editions offers an exciting platform for brands, design galleries and collectives from the region and beyond to present their work and interact with buyers, procurement teams and the press attending the fair. The section, staged alongside established international brands in the main fair, features a broad range of design, from high-end manufactured furniture and handmade limited-edition objects to brand launches and designer collaborations. This year includes an international spectrum of designers from the Middle East and beyond. Individual presentations will be complemented by a range of presentations uncovering the latest in design from around the world. These include Parisian design gallery Anne Jacquemin Sablon which will bring pieces by interior designer Tristan Auer, known for his emotional interiors that mix inspiration from the baroque and contemporary periods, among others; Lebanon’s House of Today, a non-profit dedicated to supporting Lebanese design and craft, which will be showcasing works by Lebanese creatives Stephanie Moussallem and Roula Salamoun, among others; the latest collection of Dubai-based Syrian brand ARE; Kuwaiti Studio Meshary AlNassar known for his vintage-inspired contemporary pieces; Egyptian design studio R’kan that produces high-end furniture in collaboration with designers and artists; 20C GALLERY, a design gallery from China presenting designer Jingjing Naihan Li who re-imagines furniture as not simply functional, but modular and mobile and Australian multidisciplinary designer and artist Edward Linacre. Hailing from the African continent is a curated selection of collectible design and craft pieces in a dedicated exhibit by Uganda Crafts Council. Once again local Dubai homegrown brands will be present and these include Klekktic, a modern customizable high-end furniture; The Line Concept, offering custom-made furniture based on the needs of clients, produced by hand in the company’s workshop and MODU Method, both playful and pragmatic label of Emirati designer Omar Al Gurg featuring an independent house of products inspired by pieces he’s collected, lived with and have been passed on to him across generations. Shedding a spotlight on some of the most renowned Jordanian designers and collectives will be The Workshop Dubai, a local multi-concept space presenting works by; Kutleh, Twelve Degrees, Karim Sawalha and Omar Sartawi, Yacob Sughair, Suliman Innab. Downtown Editions has served as an instrumental platform for designers to gain visibility and engage with international and regional buyers and collectors. This year, the platform will feature works from around the globe —an aspect that reflects Dubai's increasingly cosmopolitan and international character. To find out more about Downtown Editions and how to participate, click here.

One of the interior design world’s biggest stars will make an appearance during Downtown Design. The iconic style of the South African-born, British interior designer, author, TV personality and proprietor of Kelly Hoppen Interiors, features clean contemporary lines with neutral tones presenting an ambiance of sumptuous warmth, glamour, and tactile opulence. Pivotal to Hoppen’s design is the belief that adding texture to a room adds depth, sensuality, and power. She is known for her ability to elegantly play with a variety of materials and designs in her work, evocative of her East meets West philosophy. For over 45 years, Hoppen’s passion for beautiful, high-end, and worldly interiors have taken her around the world, earning her numerous prestigious awards and accolades, including an CBE for services to interior design in 2009. Over the last four decades, Kelly and her talented team have worked on multi-faceted couture interiors, advising on every aspect of the production and detail of a project. Her diverse portfolio includes exclusive commercial properties, five-star hotels, private homes, turnkey properties, yachts, and private jets. Changing the face of the design industry, particularly through her East meets West approach, Hoppen has incorporated her beautiful objects and knowledge of the unique philosophy and aesthetic of Eastern culture into thousands of her contemporary design projects around the world. In her spaces, Tibetan heads are placed face-to-face with classical busts while Chinese lacquerware and Balinese baskets are coupled with French furniture and English country fabrics. Her interior design has become a celebration of world culture in its most luxurious and high-end interpretation. Hoppen will be a keynote speaker at The Forum, Downtown Design’s talks program, featuring an impressive line-up of design personalities and innovative topics and ideas. She will also announce some big news while in Dubai. Stay tuned. ”Dubai is a very special place bursting with creativity and innovation,” says Hoppen. “I am so glad that I am now able to come back and visit after many years. “It is an honor to be a part of Downtown Design and I am so excited to share some big news with you all.”

Noting that brands, manufacturers, studios and individual designers from around the world participate in Downtown Design to gain commercial opportunity, enhance their visibility and brand awareness in the market, while accessing the most relevant audiences as the fair attracts leading design professionals, industry decision-makers and buyers from the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and beyond.

Offering a snapshot of the very best of the Middle East’s burgeoning creative scene, the AD Design Awards are the region’s ultimate accolade in architecture, interiors and product design.

In addition, being a sister event of Art Dubai, the region’s leading contemporary art fair, Downtown Design enjoys the participation of the UAE’s largest database of High Net Worth Individuals who also attend the fair.

"The past few years have seen Dubai carve out its own, distinctive design language, one that subtly takes cues from the region's heritage, makes use of locally-sourced materials and responds to its surroundings," said founder and creative director of design studio Roar, Pallavi Dean. The wider region have made a significant shift forward in design and architecture in the last decade and Dubai also now lends itself as a global hub, attracting projects in Africa, Asia, South Europe and the Middle East. “There is new generation of well-travelled design enthusiasts with a well-rounded knowledge of brands, designers and aesthetics, and that appreciate and value good design,” adds Meshary AINassar, design director and founder of Studio Meshary AlNassar. "The misconception that clients in the Middle East seek the gilded and ornamented Versailles interiors is outdated." Noting that Downtown Design has helped Dubai to break away from this image of opulence that used to be associated with the emirate and helped it to develop its own contemporary design language, the article references the rapidly growing economy of Dubai, attracting more businesses to set up in the Emirate.

For the 2022 Tanween programme, the selected designers will explore the theme of sustainability and how design can help address this fundamental challenge. The selected designers are set to collaborate with engineers and scientists over the next eleven months as they research, experiment and ultimately deliver an innovative, functional design outcome with sustainability as a defining element. Their materials of interest include the use of date seeds and date palm fronds, Kombucha fabric and wood to find more sustainable design practices that have commercial relevance and appeal.

The commercial highlight of the region’s most important creative festival, Dubai Design Week, the fair will showcase the latest collections, innovative products and design solutions by exhibiting brands, manufacturers and designers from the region and around the world, complemented by a line-up of creative showcases, activations and industry events.

Art Dubai, Downtown Design’s sister event, has announced the list of participating galleries for its 2022 edition, presenting over 100 galleries from more than 40 countries across four main gallery sections, including Contemporary, Modern, Bawwaba and a new section, Art Dubai Digital.

“Downtown Design has once again been an incredible networking and business platform for the interior design industry,” said Amedeo Scarpa, Italian Trade Commissioner to the UAE. “The 47 companies selected to be part of the Italian representation by the Italian Trade Agency, the Italian Embassy and the General Consulate of Italy, had the opportunity to showcase their collection of creativity and craftsmanship to the Gulf region that keeps reaffirming its interest for Italian furniture.”

Running from 8 – 12 November, the fair is a key event of Dubai Design Week, the region’s most important creative festival, with brands from over 20 countries as well as major national representations from European countries including Austria, France, Hungary, Italy and Spain. Downtown Editions, the fair’s boutique section dedicated to limited-edition and bespoke design, once again uncovers the latest in design by individual designers, studios and creative collaborations, with a spotlight on the region, including presentations by homegrown brands such as The Line Concept, DesignKraft, Klekktic and Custom no9 alongside the Beirut Concept Store and the UAE Designer Exhibition 2.0

The design of the cafe is Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel ‘To the Lighthouse’ and her Bloomsbury Set contemporaries, who met over ‘lingering breakfasts’ and ‘painting lunches’. “We wanted to create an environment where the design encourages the diner to linger and socialise whilst embracing the senses [through] colour, pattern and texture,” says Fisher, who leads her eponymously named practice.

CB: You have often spoken about your respect for Frank Gehry. He has designed the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, which is scheduled to open in 2026. What is it about his work that impresses you the most?

Complemented by the ideas and concepts of some of Dubai's most highly regarded personalities, Downtown Design 2021 is now poised to offer a highly stimulating and thought-provoking experience and generate new design outlooks.

In addition to letting attendees unwind and relax, the Lounge Bar will provide another important yet informal meeting space for brands and buyers to connect.

France, Italy and Spain are among the nations with a country-specific presence at this year's much-awaited, in-person fair. These countries are respected globally for pioneering design and transforming products of traditional industries into modern items suitable for 21st-century living.

As one of the hottest names in the industry today, German-born Herkner will create a ripple of excitement in the Downtown Design tent, where he will share his experience during the Forum talks and hold smaller, more intimate meetings with Trade Connect guests.

From a master plan for a new hydroponic farm to an HQ for an investment bank, new offices for international law firms, boutique hotels, executive offices and ultra-luxurious residences, the design sector is on a roll. Fuelled by some of Dubai’s highest property sales in 12 years and rising property and rental prices, there is a buoyancy in the market that has set the design sector on a steep upwards trajectory.

The innovative and intriguing structure is poised to bring the design community together and enrich the dialogue between industry players.

According to industry database TopHotelProjects, it’s estimated that there are currently some 150 new hotels in the pipeline in the emirate. Around 70 are scheduled to open this year, 34 in 2022 and a further 11 in 2023, followed by another 29.

The Downtown Design 2021 entrance, designed by award-winning studio NIU, will be a beacon of contemporary design and technology, that welcomes guests into the ninth edition of the region’s leading design fair.

As the region’s creative scene continues to flourish, Downtown Design Editions 2021 will be an exciting showcase for new galleries, boutiques, brands, incubators and young emergent talents to display their work and interact with procurement teams and buyers attending the fair.

The new management team – which is headed by event specialist David Ross – is implementing an enhanced programme of features and benefits supported by an advisory committee, composed of leading members of the regional A&D community, that will be formed to consult on new elements to be incorporated in the 2021 Fair. Media consultant Catherine Belbin, who previously edited identity magazine, for over 20 years has also joined to bring decades of industry experience in Dubai to the Fair.

Now in its ninth year, Downtown Design is the main highlight of the annual city-wide Dubai Design Week, which creates a fusion of diverse design events and is, according to the BBC, “the Middle East's most influential design event”. To heighten the excitement, Dubai Expo is expected to be a magnet for the world's leading architects and designers who have contributed to its 200+ state-of-the-art, futuristic pavilions. Expo is an architectural hub for some of the most innovative ideas and concepts in the industry – the perfect complement to Downtown Design and Dubai Design Week. A 'who's who' of the top architects will be in town to add to the creative ambiance.

Downtown Design speaks to Helen Tatham, Savills Associate Director – Head of Community Sales & Leasing Dubai and Swapnil Pillai, Associate Director, Research from Savills, one of the country’s leading real estate firms, about the current buoyancy in the market.

Now in its ninth year, Downtown Design is the main highlight of the annual city-wide Dubai Design Week, which creates a fusion of diverse design events and is, according to the BBC, “the Middle East's most influential design event”. To heighten the excitement, Dubai Expo is expected to be a magnet for the world's leading architects and designers who have contributed to its 200+ state-of-the-art, futuristic pavilions. Expo is an architectural hub for some of the most innovative ideas and concepts in the industry – the perfect complement to Downtown Design and Dubai Design Week. A 'who's who' of the top architects will be in town to add to the creative ambiance.

The multi-award-winning architect will also reveal how his 'sustainable but beautiful’ theory relates to the ‘Beauty connects people’ theme of the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2020.

Taking place 8-12 November, Downtown Design will return to its purpose-built venue at the d3 Waterfront, offering exhibitors a unique platform to access creative and commercial opportunities in the MENA region and beyond.

Amidst a time of global fear and uncertainty initiated by the Covid-19 Pandemic, an unanticipated re-connection with home comfort and safety implores the daunting question: Will we risk travelling and sharing our immediate space with strangers in order to encounter foreign destinations again?

Optimism

The Czech design and glassmaking company LASVIT illuminates the world with inspiration, building on a long history of glassmaking in Northern Bohemia. The founder of LASVIT, Leon Jakimič, has great respect for the glassmaking tradition, but also enthusiasm for cutting-edge design and modern technologies.

Intersection, the new project by the acclaimed Belgian designer, is a strongly expressive kitchen with sophisticated details that highlight Dada’s excellence in working with refined materials and high-craftmanship.

Cofounders, Kathryn Hawkes and Linda Dekkers, both Dubai-based interiors stylists, fulfilled their shared quest to design the things they couldn’t find locally when they joined forces to create Fronteriors in early 2019.

Discussing what drives them and what they seek to express and address through their work, our panelists brought a diverse range of experiences and influences to the virtual table.

Quooker is the first boiling water tap ever created. Invented in the Netherlands 25 years ago, it has been providing instant boiling water to over 400,000 kitchens across Europe and now is available across the UAE. Quooker is the new must-have high-end design kitchen appliance that delivers instant, filtered and purified 100˚C boiling, cold and hot water from a single tap, saving water, energy, space and time.

From contemporary brands such as Kettal and RS Barcelona, to those built on centuries of tradition like Lladro, ICEX Spain Trade & Investment, presents some of the most iconic and innovative brands from their country, demonstrating the diversity of Spanish design to the Middle East.

Presenting the latest collections for stylish outdoor living, Downtown Design’s selection of internationally acclaimed outdoor furniture brands combines inspiration from nature and artful design with material innovation to offer refined solutions for private and contract clients.

Founded in 1989 by the Feltrin family, Arper has remained at the forefront of product design, thanks to an innate commitment to innovation and experimentation, and a genuine understanding of the interconnectedness between people, their spaces and their environments.

This year, Kettal presented the Bela lamp  designed by studio Doshi Levien, which consists of both a floor and table lamp and features Kettal's signature Bela Rope, also designed exclusively for Kettal, woven over its shade, available in various colour options.

Through the use of these cutting-edge technologies, which are gradually replacing traditional production processes, UNIQ ∙ Ǝ! allows those who are looking for new expressive and creative spaces to experiment with alternative ways and bring innovation to the bathroom and kitchen, creating unique pieces or small series with maximum customization.