Sustainability and the environment are reoccurring themes for local and international designers at Dubai Design Week; each exploring green issues and nature in innovative and creative ways.
Sustainability and the environment are reoccurring themes for local and international designers at Dubai DesignWeek; each exploring green issues and nature in innovative and creative ways.
Detritus Wall, a Dubai Design Week installation designed by architect and urban designer, Ali Al-Sammarraie, brings new life to waste. The Iraqi born designer, who studied at the respected American University of Sharjah and Louisiana State University, USA, utilises cardboard and wood offcuts to create different forms and typologies. Al-Sammarraie’s designs range from dynamic furniture pieces to installations that provide sound and visual barriers. His work, such as Detritus Wall, rekindles the beauty that lies within the materiality of these commonly discarded materials, portraying objects representing sustainability and allure.
Nature and the City, an exhibition at Dubai lifestyle store, Comptoir 102, creates a link between organic forms and nature through the works and collaboration of local and regional designers, Nathalie Khayat, Arnaud Rivieren and Tory Waller. In their own unique ways, each designer uses natural products such as wood, clay and plants to bring forth a representation of nature.
The inaugural exhibition of the design collective, Design Ras Al Khor (DRAK) not only draws attention to the potential of the Ras Al Khor industrial area as a further creative district for Dubai but its theme takes an environmental path to shed light on a key element of the nearby Dubai creek, Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary.
Royal College of Arts graduate Cal Craven’s design, Luxury Exploration Yacht, raises the possibility of a new form of luxury that is interwoven with sustainability. Entitled Orion’s Belt, the yacht is an environmental explorer that is able to conduct research and clean the ocean. Craven’s design will exhibited at Dubai Design Week as part of the Global Grad Show.
Also at the Global Grad Show, the design, Water Reaction, by Chao Chen of the Royal College of Art is an organic architectural surface that reacts to water by curling inward into various geometric shapes, revealing a coloured surface underneath. Applied to building scale, this shape-shifting material subtly transforms into a brightly patterned facade on rainy days. The work is part of a series of explorations into how the built environment can mimic the responsiveness and flexibility found in nature.