Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Thursday, February 26th 2015 [ME NewsWire]

In celebration of Dubai’s rich array of creative talent, Dubai Design District (d3) is hosting a three day open to the public community event. “Meet d3”, has been specifically commissioned and curated to feature a compelling mix of local, regional and international designers, artists, musicians, concept retailers and unique dining experiences.

d3 is the realisation His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid’s ambition to establish a dedicated home for design in Dubai. It is playing a key role in bringing to life His Highness’ vision to drive an innovation-led economy that welcomes creativity in all its forms. With over 200 licenses issued, d3 has secured an impressive mix of design, retail, fashion companies, both regional and local. This includes some of the region’s most well-respected brands such as the Chalhoub Group and Jumeirah Group, through to talented emerging designers. “Meet d3” community event will showcase some exciting local and regional designers work for the public to enjoy.

Commenting, Dr. Amina Al Rustamani, Group Chief Executive Officer of TECOM Investments, said: “d3 promises to be an extraordinary and pioneering destination with passion, imagination and creativity at its heart. We have worked tirelessly over the past two years to create this innovative community and we are delighted to be able to celebrate our milestones to date with our creative and design community alongside with wider community across Dubai.

“We  are inviting residents, designers, cultural enthusiasts, students and tourists to our ‘Meet d3’ event, so we can help to ignite, inspire and engage them and share a sneak preview of what it will be like to be part of Dubai’s home of design.

“Meet d3’ will harness the talents and abilities of the community to celebrate creativity in the region. Programming across the three day event includes some of the most dynamic and original creative talents from across both the UAE and beyond, embodying the notions of convergence and co-collaboration around design, art, fashion, dining experience and entertainment – many of whom will now call d3 home.”

For more information visit www.dubaidesigndistrict.com

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Details:

Date – 19 to 21 March

Venue – Dubai Design District

Timings – Thursday 6pm – 12am; Friday and Saturday 2pm – 12am

Programming highlights include:

Design & Art

As an insight into the world of design and technology, threeASFOUR from New York - known for dressing celebrities such as Bjork and Yoko Ono – take you through an immersive multimedia presentation of their latest collection. This sets the tone for a series of design and multimedia experiences created by local entrepreneur collaborations such as Cinema Akil and Gazette bringing together film, fashion and performance together in their programme. .

Li Edelkoort of the leading global trend agency Edelkoort will kick off the event with a masterclass on design trends open to public and industry – shedding light on the mechanics of the design industry and sharing insights behind how design thinking and trend forecasting pave the industry’s direction in their product development.

Design is then interpreted in many different forms for people to experience and enjoy at ‘Meet d3’ – from installations such as “Wink Space” by Masakazu Shirane + Saya Miyazaki to the mysterious walk through “Project Lines” by Lebanese architects Ghaith&Jad. Visitors will be lead through diverse iterations of design and emotions – from selfie moments to musically designed moments.

Artist and designer Ebon Heath will be installing his unique typographic installation while international lighting brand Lasvit will, for the first time in the region, undertake glass-blowing workshops to give visitors a truly sensorial introduction to the process of transforming raw glass into design lighting. There will also be specially commissioned furniture by local product designer Khalid Shafar alongside works from Magis provided by Superstudio, founded in 2012 by Mohsin Jawaheri.

Fashion

In the area of fashion, a historical narrative of the Evolution of Emirati Dress is told through an exhibition curated by Anthropology of Design from the book Sultani: Traditions Renewed by Dr. Reem El Mutwalli. This story then transitions into the launch of the collaborative experimental project by Bint Thani x Inter | Act, the first ever 3D printed dress made in Dubai, at the Not Just A Label retail space at the event. With over 18,000 designers in over 100 countries globally, Not Just A Label (NJAL) is the global authority on discovering and nurturing emerging fashion talent. It’s pavilion at the Dubai Design District will bring together a specially curated selection of designs and creativity, as well as a special installation by NJAL’s Dubai based Bint Thani.

Music

A roster of local, regional and international musicians will set the audio backdrop to the ‘Meet d3’ experience. Some invited to share their pioneering talent of combining traditional instruments with technology and electronic music such as Talvin Singh and some for using music as their daring tool touching on Identity as Design such as The Medium collective. There is a full line-up of music entertainment for everyone at Meet d3 – from Tania Saleh and Mashrou’ Leila to upcoming musicians from Dubai to Turkey to India. All brought together to create a musical score to the art, design, fashion and food memories that every visitor will leave with. ‘Meet d3’ is set to be a multi-sensory experience for all to visit and gain a personal understanding of what this district is bringing together to create for the people of Dubai and the rest of the world.

Food and Beverage

Building on the strong foundations of art, design and music, Meet d3 will also showcase partnerships with the brightest talents from the food and beverage industry to deliver a world class offering of restaurants and cafes ranging from hip haute dining to passionate street food fare.

The food and beverage component of the ‘Meet d3’ has been carefully curated and will showcase pop-up offerings from some of Dubai’s leading independent restaurants and cafes, many of whom will be showcasing for the first time outside of their permanent venues.  The line-up of award winning concepts provide a range of eating and drinking options; from cool contemporary European, Peruvian and Mexican street food, the freshest of sushi, Quebecois specialties and many more!

Similarly to the events musical main stage, the food & beverage offering also comes with a few headline acts!  Sure to thrill the city’s foodies and food professionals alike, the international food talents bring an element of the extraordinary to the event.  British culinary wiz kids Bompas & Parr, known for staging astonishing food events - including architectural jelly banquets and flavorful multisensory fireworks - will be delivering a bespoke experience just for the ‘Meet d3’ event.

Award winning restauranteur Mourad ‘MOMO’ Mazouz, will collaborate with pop artist and close friend Hassan Hajjaj to deliver a whimsical restaurant decked out with his trademark style of recycled North African objects and pop-culture reference, creating an unforgettable experience to their own region.  

ABOUT d3

Dubai Design District, better known as d3, is dedicated to fostering the growth of the Emirate’s design, fashion, art, and luxury industry. It offers businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals a creative community that will be at the very heart of the region’s design scene.

d3 is the newest of TECOM Investments’ freezone business parks – with 11 buildings currently under construction. Once complete, d3 will be a purpose built environment catering to the full value chain of the design, fashion, art, and luxury industry – and all with the vision of creating a world class creative community that engages, nurtures and promotes local, regional and global design talent.

d3’s facilities will include everything from cutting-edge design institutes to residential, hospitality, retail and office space. The District will be characterised by distinct public areas, unique street furniture and shaded walkways. The development will include a Creek-side esplanade with international and boutique hotels, a pop-up shop area and an amphitheatre.

Located close to Mohammed Bin Rashid City and adjacent to Dubai’s Business Bay, d3 is a short distance from the city’s arterial highways and two international airports. The District is in sight of the Creek, Dubai’s historic and mercurial trading epicentre, Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping complex.

d3 will be the most connected design, fashion and luxury destination in the world – with Dubai being only eight hours flight time from 90 per cent of the countries in the world.

Guided by the objectives set out in Dubai Fashion 2020 – a strategic plan to harness the full growth potential of the fashion industry – this creative community will support Dubai’s goals for a more diversified innovation-led economy.

Contacts

Tarané Ali Khan

The Portsmouth Group

+9714 433 2676

Tarane.AliKhan@theportsmouthgroup.com

Nicola Hooper

Bell Pottinger

nhooper@bellpottinger.com