After a very successful first edition at Milan’s Salone Del Mobile International Design Fair in April, Dubai’s Design District is taking their latest design exhibition to London.
Held in partnership with the UAE Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, the exhibition series, entitled UAE Design Stories set out to highlight Emirati talent on an international scale—and from the looks of it, the gulf nation is certainly leaving its mark.
Renowned Emirati product designer Khalid Shafar (who has showcased his works all over the region and abroad) is the man behind the artwork. Shafar curated the exhibition and selected the ten local designers for the showcase.
For the London edition, entitled ‘Objects of the Past: Today’, the artists have been invited to dig deep into their native’s photographic achieves— putting particular focus on its nomadic roots as a source of inspiration.
The designers were then commissioned to create pieces through their own interpretations of the archives—with the goal of manifesting their ideas into modernist designs that somehow maintain their historic roots.
For its previous edition in Milan, which was titled, ‘Emirati Landscape: Flora, Fauna and Soil’, the designers were tasked with creating pieces inspired by the gulf nation’s landscape. The designers responded by looking towards the UAE’s natural resources, from its palm trees and sand dunes to its wildlife.
Artists Aljoud Lootah, Alia bin Omair, and Azza Al Qubaisi’s pieces were all inspired by different parts of palm trees, Lootah by its fronds, Omair its leaves.
Interior designer Alia Mazrooei took a different approach with her piece ‘Stingray’—a piece of furniture made to mimic both the body and movement of a stingray.
Following the London chapter, the exhibition is set to travel to Paris before returning to Dubai for Dubai Design Week in November.
UAE Design Stories, Emirati Landscape: Flora, Fauna and Soil’ is set to be held at Old Truman Brewery from September 20th through the 23rd.
