Dubai Design Week Experience

Dubai Design Week is an annual event every November that started at the year 2015. This event is dedicated to promote creativity and design wherein, a lot of creative companies holds their own events, installments, and stalls all over Dubai but the main venue is at Dubai Design District which is located at Downtown Dubai near to Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa.

I volunteered as a workshop assistant for the Making Space which was organized by Ms. Fatima, a representative of Art Dubai. My role was just basically to talk to people and help with set-up and clean-up of the workshops.

The Making Space is a 5-day event wherein different companies have held various workshops that lasted for about one to three hours a day. For the weekdays, November 13-15, the workshops were targeted towards adults and then the weekends are for the kids. Fortunately, volunteers can join the workshops for free as long as there is a free spot and I was lucky enough to be able to sustainable collaborative design wherein we made a rug a out of recycled materials and they are planning to donate it to a children's center where it can serve as a sensory project. Also, I joined a fractals workshop wherein you can make a 3D architectural design of your own using dried palm leaves. Also, a creative gym that was provided by Palmwood wherein we were given a task and we would just use elementary tools to design an item and lastly, I joined the 8 fold zine wherein we made a small magazine out of just one A4 paper and then we can paint, make a collage, and basically anything that we can think of and then, discuss it with the group.

Through this event, I have learned a lot and met some amazing people! For a person who is not very creative, they provided an open and non-judgemental environment where you'd feel confident with your own imagination and thoughts.

There is also a Downtown Design that is open to the public at around 5 pm until 10 pm. Downtown Design is where different architectural, interior design have put their installations. The Downtown Design is good for design students and for different companies to get partnership. The installations were all amazing and unique! My favorite is probably the a table made of crystallized salt.

Another thing was the Ripe Market that happened during the weekend where different companies and individuals have set up small tents and sell their products. There was even a live music throughout the night and some also, provided free workshops and materials.

I must say that the weekends were intense. With all that's happening in the Making Space and what's in front of it (Ripe Market) there are people everywhere you look and the space was well-maximized. Not only does this event promote creativity and design in art, it also encourages people of science to incorporate design and creativity with their research through the Global Grad Show. Wherein, prototypes from different regions of the world were exhibited that ranges from social research to sports equipment and to health advancements. These are some of the exhibits of the Global Grad Show:

It's so amazing how they can improve simple materials and technology into something more. There are a lot more art installations all over the Dubai Design District that I stupidly didn't save on my phone but all in all, I truly enjoyed my 5-day experience with the Dubai Design Week and it's all thanks to the volunteering opportunity because without it I'll probably be too lazy to go out of the house and maybe wouldn't have known about these different events. Maybe if I'm still here next year, I'll participate at the events outside the district.