Downtown Design attracts every year more and more international brands: in your opinion, what they are looking for in this fair?
Each year we welcome new international brands to the fair, who are looking to use our platform to access opportunity within the whole MENA region. From meeting active buyers and distributors, to press and industry figures, our exhibitors are seeking to grow their network and knowledge of the Middle East design scene.
And what are the pluses that Downton Design can offer in respect to other international trade fairs?
Downtown Design is not the traditional trade fair. We create a local narrative in every aspect of the event to ensure that visitors have a dynamic and enjoyable experience and one that truly reflects the homegrown industry. Each year we work with an award-winning local design firm to reimagine the common areas of the fair. Our investment in these concepts from the registration area, to the pop up bar and café acts as a showcase by the regional industry to engage a wider group of buyers.
As a B2B and a B2C fair, we not only present a highly curated selection of international brands, but also a successful new exhibition of limited edition design by the next generation of regional design stars, interspersed with installations by international designers.
Downtown Design
Downtown Edition is a must-see of the Design Week: is a reflection of the increasing design awareness of the region?
In just a decade, the local design scene has exploded. From just a handful of designers producing unique objects, there are now design schools turning out product designers, government incubators developing innate skills, awards and grants to incentivize creativity and Editions which seeks to bring these local talents face to face with the market, to support key learning and commercial feedback to allow them to turn their studios into fully fledged design brands.
What are the business opportunities the fair tries to create?
We actively promote business networking between brands and interior designers, developers and architects, designers and distributors in order to support new relationships that will lead to business. Having a strong marketing campaign and buyer programme helps us to expose these opportunities to the widest possible regional audience, with multiple platforms that allow these different groups of connect.
Downtown Editions
