The 2017 Global Grad Show Exhibition Opens in Dubai with 200 Innovative Prototypes from 43 Countries
The 2017 Global Grad Show Exhibition Opens in Dubai with 200 Innovative Prototypes from 43 Countries
Dubai, UAE - Held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, and in partnership with Dubai Design District (d3) and supported by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, the third edition of the acclaimed annual exhibition of life-changing inventions from graduates of the world's leading design and technology universities opens today in Dubai. Curated by renowned author and designer, Brendan McGetrick, the Global Grad Show presents 200 innovative projects selected from over 470 global entries. The selections will be presented at the Global Grad Show until 18 November, 2017 during Dubai Design Week.
A not for profit initiative, the Global Grad Show welcomes graduates from 92 universities to Dubai to present forward-thinking prototypes around the themes of empowerment, connection, and sustainability. Graduates hail from universities far and wide, including leading institutions such as Design Academy Eindhoven (Netherlands), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (USA), Royal College of Art (UK), and National University of Singapore. Furthermore, work from emerging markets rarely seen on a global scale are on view, including projects from designers based in Serbia, Uganda, Peru, Malaysia and New Zealand.
McGetrick curated the projects based on his personal interpretation of design that emphasises four categories: innovation that transcends technology and exists independent of wealth; equality without hierarchy amongst universities, regions and designers; universal design opens to all types of projects; and impact on the world at large through solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.
“We organise Global Grad Show to be a celebration of beautiful ideas,” McGetrick explains. “It features projects that are designed to directly benefit social and environmental causes. By presenting a cross section of design programs from around the world, we try to demonstrate how the brightest young minds are designing the future. The variety of programs offers a unique view to the ways in which designers in different places, with different budgets, cultural contexts, and tools develop solutions to the problems and opportunities of our time.”
This year, Global Grad Show announces the inaugural Progress Prize, which will be awarded to one exhibiting project. The winning prototype will be selected by an international jury from fields of journalism, design, manufacturing, innovation and investment and demonstrate originality of idea, social impact, international relevance and feasibility.
Jury members include:
- Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum -Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority
- Mohammad Saeed Al Shehhi - CEO of Dubai Design District (d3)
- Edwin Heathcoate - Architecture and Design critic, The Financial Times
- Noah Murphy-Reinhertz - NXT Space Sustainability Leader, Nike
- Aric Chen – Lead Curator, Design and Architecture, M+ museum
- Petra Janssen - Owner and designer, Studio Boot and Social Label
- Hugo Macdonald - Design Critic and Consultant
- Faaris Naqvi - Founding Member, Bakery
- Jessica Bland – Head of Research and Foresight, Dubai Future Foundation
Mohammad Saeed Al Shehhi, CEO of Dubai Design District commented: "d3 welcomes the Global Grad Show back for another year as a part of Dubai Design Week. This event brings focus to the next generation of designers that will shape the future through design, science, and innovation and will be an exciting show for visitors to explore. We are committed to supporting talent in education and our design community provides a unique platform where young designers can unite, co-create".
Global Grad Show is held at Dubai Design District (d3) and is free for all to attend.
Examples of projects on view are as follows:
- All PET Shoe - a football boot made entirely of recycled plastic bottles, designed at ECAL/ University of Art and Design, Lausanne, Switzerland
- The Loss of Words – an online platform that preserves the endangered languages, by documenting the languages Culture, Art and Literature, designed at The German University, New Cairo
- Trabecular Tectonics - a lightweight architecture inspired by the structure of bones, designed at the Politecnico, Milan
- Folks Kitchenware For The Blind - a system of kitchen utensils designed to aid the blind, designed at National University of Singapore, Singapore
- Out of sight drawer - a drawer that hides dangerous tools from dementia patients under a tray, which creates a false bottom to the drawer, designed at Pratt Institute, New York.
- Kanga - a mobile resuscitation kit for new-borns, designed at Umeå Institute of Design, Umea.
- Bee2Bee - a mobile, lightweight and quick to assemble culture system for bees, designed at Offenbach University of Art & Design, Germany
- Guma - a multipurpose rubber like substance made from waste objects and tyres for use in shows, stools, etc., designed at Centro University, Mexico City
- Scroll - a ring to control an everyday Augmented Reality, designed at the Royal College of Arts, London
A sampling of universities involved are as follows:
- POLI.design, Milan, Italy
- Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA
- Royal College of Art, London
- National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City
- National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India
- Samsung Art and Design Institute, Korea
- Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
- Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
- RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
- ArtCenter College of Design, California, USA
- Design Academy Eindhoven, Eindhoven, Netherlands
- British Higher Institute of Art and Design, Moscow, Russia
- Zayed University, United Arab Emirates
For more information, a complete list of universities or projects, interview or image requests, please contact:
Marie Eve Dubois
Wallis PR
[email protected]
+971 50 420 0283
Mette Degn Christensen
Dubai Design Week
[email protected]
+971 4 563 1418
NOTES TO EDITORS
Global Grad Show will be held at the d3 Waterfront.
www.globalgradshow.com
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ABOUT DUBAI DESIGN WEEK
Dubai Design Week is one of the world’s newest and most ambitious international design events, conceived to shine a spotlight on Dubai as a leading design hub, and share the UAE’s thriving design scene with the world at large.
Established in 2015, it is owned and managed by the Art Dubai Group and is held under the dedicated patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice Chairman, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.
The third edition of Dubai Design Week takes place 13-18 November 2017, in locations across the city. Staged in association with Dubai Design District (d3), which acts as the hub venue, the six-day event will attract designers, architects, educators, thought-leaders, influencers and significant public audiences, through a varied and comprehensive programme of contemporary design.
By engaging and showcasing design talent in Dubai, from across the region and around the world, Dubai Design Week’s activity is carefully balanced to support and stimulate Dubai’s design economy and to engage the Design Week’s diverse audience. With a substantial marketing & communications campaign aimed at audiences locally and beyond, Dubai Design Week’s goal is to engage through inspiration, visitor experiences and networking to celebrate the positive impact and potential of design in Dubai and beyond.
Dubai Design Week 2017 is supported by Meraas, who are responsible for a unique portfolio of urban destinations in Dubai and Audi, the long supporter of Dubai Design Week that will announce the second winner of the Audi Innovation Award as part of Dubai Design Week 2017.
From 2018, Design Days Dubai will be moved from March and held during Dubai Design Week under a new format. The dates will be announced in January 2018.
ABOUT BRENDAN MCGETRICK
Brendan McGetrick is an independent writer, editor, and designer. His work has appeared in publications in over thirty countries, including The New York Times, Wired, The Financial Times, Art Review, Der Spiegel, Domus, and Vogue Nippon.
His projects include the books MAD Dinner (Actar), Urban China: Work In Progress (Timezone 8), and Who is Architecture? (Domus/Timezone 8). From 2002-2006, he was head writer at Rem Koolhaas’s research studio AMO as well as Koolhaas’s personal editor.
McGetrick is the editor and author of six books, including Content (Taschen, 2004), MAD Dinner (Actar, 2010), and Urban China: Work In Progress (Timezone 8, 2011). In 2011, he curated Unnamed Design, a component of the 2011 Gwangju Design Biennale, in collaboration with Ai Weiwei. The exhibition received over 200,000 visitors and was named the year’s best contemporary design exhibition by the New York Times.
In 2014, he co-curated Fair Enough in the Russian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, for which he received a jury prize. In 2017, together with Justin McGuirk, he curated California: Designing Freedom at the Design Museum in London. Since 2015, he has served as director and curator of Global Grad Show.
ABOUT DUBAI DESIGN DISTRICT
Dubai Design District, better known as d3, is a home for the region’s growing community of creative thinkers. It plays a key element in Dubai’s vision to transform into an innovation-led economy, and it aims to engage, inspire and enable emerging talent, as well as providing a platform to showcase Arab creativity to a larger, global audience.
As a dedicated creative destination, d3 answers a growing need for the regional design industry, ensuring that this important sector is able to develop and thrive. It provides businesses, entrepreneurs and creatives from across the design value chain with an ideally located, purpose-built and sustainable ecosystem, which leverages technology to integrate ‘smart’ solutions throughout the development.
d3 is the newest of TECOM Group’s vibrant creative communities, with 11 buildings making up the core of the site already delivered and being handed over to tenants. To support its many creative partners, d3 offers individuals and businesses the choice of operating either as a free-zone entity or as an on-shore business, each with its own merits.
As d3 evolves so will its facilities, to include everything from cutting-edge workshops and renowned design institutes, to high-end homes, hospitality, retail and office space. Its public spaces will be distinct and characterised by unique street furniture and shaded walkways.
By 2018, d3 will feature a one million square foot Creative Community, which will act as the site’s cultural epicentre, inspiring emerging designers and artists, and attracting tourists to the area. By 2019, d3 will also boast a bustling, 1.8km esplanade running alongside Dubai Creek where international and design led hotels, a pop-up shop area, and an amphitheatre will all be located.
All these elements have been carefully designed to ensure that the creative thinkers using and visiting d3 every day have an energised and culturally rich environment.
www.dubaidesigndistrict.com