Dubai Design Week is the largest design festival in the Middle East, taking place since 2015. It aims to promote the region’s talents through design.

Like many design weeks around the world, Dubai Design Week includes installations, exhibitions, lectures, workshops, a marketplace, and the leading contemporary design fair, Downtown Design. Dubai Design Week is under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture, in collaboration with Dubai Design District (d3), and with the support of Dubai Culture.

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Dubai Design Week 2024: tenth edition

The tenth edition is from November 5th to 10th, 2024, in the Dubai Design District (d3). Dubai Design Week 2024 underscores its decade-long cultural and economic impact on the $26 billion GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) design industry (Interior and Furniture Market). Its “seniority” also makes it the leading design event in the Middle East. The 2024 edition features over 500 well-known or emerging designers, brands and creative leaders from over 40 countries.

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Fueled by the rapid urbanization and diversification of the economy, with the rapidly growing population of tourists and residents, Dubai Design Week has evolved since 2015 to become a major international design event. Its success comes from many factors. Undoubtedly, support for local talent has played an important role, helping to develop a platform for local and international design.

Highlights at Dubai Design Week 2024

One of the main event of this edition is Downtown Design, the Middle East’s premier design fair, taking place November 6th to 9th on the d3 Waterfront Terrace.

Also in 2024 takes place Editions, the region’s first limited edition art and design fair. Editions hosts more than 50 galleries, collectives, and design studios.

The Urban Commissions competition

Dubai Design Week’s annual design competition, Urban Commissions, returns this year with the theme “Tawila,” which means “table” in Arabic. The competition invites designers and architects to explore the table beyond its form as a facilitator of common exchanges and experiences. The winner for 2024 is Altqadum, an architecture and interior design firm from Oman. Inspired by the musical culture of the Gulf, where communities traditionally gather around and accompany musicians, TukTuKDum is an innovative table encouraging interaction with the audience.

The Abwab program

Abwab, which means “doors” in Arabic, is a program that supports designers in the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region. Each year, Abwab commissions installations or pavilions dedicated to relevant global and regional contexts. Since 2015, more than 180 designers from countries such as Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates have participated in Abwab. For the 2024 edition, professionals were invited to propose projects on vernacular architecture. The project also explores how architecture using local materials and techniques can interact with new environments.

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As part of the Abwab program, the public will see more than 30 projects exploring ancient technologies, innovation, and materials. Dubai-based architecture and interior design firm Bone will present a pavilion by prefabricated earth blocks, created in collaboration with Fetdeterra, a Spanish company specializing in clay architecture. Japanese architecture firm Mitsubishi Jisho Design invites the public to experience a traditional teahouse made from 3D-printed waste sawdust. Multidisciplinary technology studio DEOND, founded by Ross Lovegrove and Ila Colombo, explores the notion of phytotherapy, with a “second skin” fabric infused with artificial intelligence that responds to the body’s mood. In addition to these, other installations come from various organic and recycled materials, including banana fiber, soy wax, henna, Himalayan salt, terracotta, and scrap metal.

Workshops, talks, and master classes

The Dubai Design Week workshop program is open to all disciplines of design. The program is run by a range of facilitators, including lecturers, designers, independent makers, and cultural organizations.

Dubai Design Week also offers a Marketplace on November 9 and 10. The marketplace, which offers handcrafted products, is located in the heart of Dubai Design District (d3).

The Dubai Design District (d3)

The Dubai Design District (d3) is a global creative ecosystem dedicated to design, fashion, architecture, and art. Located in the heart of Dubai, d3 is a commercial district that houses multi-brand stores, art galleries, and showrooms, as well as architectural and interior design studios. Various events, such as Dubai Design Week, Arab Fashion Week, and Sole DXB, are part of the Dubai Design District.

Some of the region’s most popular events take place in d3 and attract international artists and audiences for events such as Dubai Design Week, Arab Fashion Week, and Sole DXB. The district also regularly hosts a number of industry conferences, workshops, and educational programs for people of all ages.

Why Visit

Dubai Design Week is an opportunity to see Dubai up close in a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary guise, and to understand the exciting path taken by the UAE. Investment in design, in fact, carries out research in innovation projected into the future, alongside the rediscovery of local materials and traditions. Design therefore expresses the desire to rediscover one’s roots, with objects bearing a solid identity. Local products manage to create emotional bonds, which foreign design hardly builds. Between Public Projects and Downtown Dubai, and from this year also Editions, Dubai Design Week is thus a comprehensive platform, to follow the evolution of design in this area of the world.

Dubai Design Week, November 5-10, 2024

For professional and general public
Location: Dubai Design District (d3)
Size: over 500 exhibitors, 200,000 visitors
Visit website DubaiDesignWeek.ae for more info

Some images from Dubai Design Week 2021, 2022 and 2023