The team behind Art Dubai and Design Days Dubai – two of the Middle East’s most successful fairs – will launch an international design trade fair. Called Downtown Design, it will run from Oct. 29 to Nov.1, 2013, just metres form Dubai’s iconic Burj Khalifa. The fair will showcase a select number of quality interiors brands from around the world.
The idea behind Downtown Dubai is a simple one – to bring to the region never-before seen design products, trends and concepts to architects, specifiers, interior designers, residential and hospitality developers, retailers and design professionals working in the Middle East and North Africa. Downtown Design will also be open to members of the public to provide a source of inspiration for interior and product design.
Downtown Design aims to be the premier venue in the Middle East to showcase the very best in furniture, lighting, accessories, textiles and new technologies. Emphasising quality, innovation and research, the fair will seek to highlight contemporary, yet timeless, values in a creative atmosphere to an audience keen to understand design.
Confirmed exhibitors include Poltrona Frau, Cassina, Cappellini, Gaia & Gino, Seletti, De Castelli, Emeco and Bolon, while the Temporary Museum of Milan, one of the cornerstones of Milan’s Salone del Mobile will present a special exhibition will be curated by Gisella Borioli and Giulio Cappellini
Providing a unique platform to give international brands access to the rapidly growing market of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), Downtown Design is set to become an annual gathering place in the region for design professionals seeking the best in global design.
In addition to the trade fair, Downtown Design will also feature an extensive program of seminars, face-to-face meetings and special events, to bring together the design brands participating and key regional decision-makers to offer greater insight into market trends in the MENA region and ways to drive business.
Talking about the launch of Downtown Design, fair director Cristina Romelli Gervasoni says, “With the significant developments and initiatives being made to support Dubai’s burgeoning art and design scene together with the emirate’s ever-growing real estate and construction industry, Downtown Design is set to become a leading platform for international brands to showcase their products in a rapidly growing market. The industry professional event will also play a key role in establishing the emirate’s reputation as a global destination for design; competing with and complementing the international calendar of design events in other global cities including London, New York, Milan, Paris, Basel, Cologne and Miami.”
Gaye Cevikel, founder of Gaia & Gino (the Turkish luxury interior accessories brand) and creative director of the Czech brand Verreum, says: “The Middle East is an increasingly important market for both Gaia & Gino and Verreum. Over the last few years there has been a real shift within the region and good design has become more important. This is reflected in a burgeoning design scene and the opening of design stores and galleries and also in the success of events like Design Days.”
Concludes Cevikel, “I believe that the time is now right for an event like Downtown Design to showcase global design and I am confident that it will be a huge success for all of the brands participating.”