The countdown is finally over: on yesterday, the doors of the new edition of Dubai Design Week opened, for a 6-day-festival that will turn the renowned city into the global stage for design. The wide program of the design week includes many events, especially the much-awaited comeback of Downtown Design. The fair represents the only trade show in the Middle East for professionals to discover original, high quality design from across the world: due to its ever-growing importance, this edition features a doubled number of exhibitors, whose stands sold out in the blink of an eye. The size of the whole Dubai Design Week doubled as well: the 2016 program features in fact as many as 150 happenings scattered all over the city.

Just like the best design festivals, Dubai Design Week emphasizes the importance of emerging and international talents with its Global Grand Show, the world's largest graduate degree show with 145 projects from 50 universities worldwide, including 9 from the region. The international feel of the festival also recurs in two other initiatives: the Iconic City - which this year celebrates Cairo's design - and Abwab, an exhibition dedicated to exploring the design narrative of countries within the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia) regions. With an almost infinite program that features talks, seminars, events for families, commercial opportunities for professionals and entertainment for design lovers, the new edition of Dubai Design Week – as well as the much-awaited Downtown Design fair – is going to prove itself as the unmissable festival not just of the region, but of the whole world.

INFO: dubaidesignweek.ae

PHOTO COURTESY: Dubai Design Week