North, South, East and West

From Riyadh to Johannesburg, via Sharjah, Dubai, and on to Mexico City and São Paulo, design speaks a single language: tradition and craftsmanship, on the one hand, and research, innovation and inclusion, on the other. These are the key words capable of bringing otherwise distant worlds closer together.

by Giulia Guzzini

The United Arab Emirates were the first in the Gulf to develop design-related cultural strategies. If today Dubai is a global creative capital, this is partly owed to the Dubai Design District, d3, a creative eco-system dedicated to design, fashion, art and architecture by the TECOM Group PJSC, and to Downtown Design, Middle East’s leading fair for original and high-quality. According to Mette Degn-Christensen, Director of Dubai Design Week: «What is quite unique to Downtown Design is that we are a boutique fair and plan to remain so, and an edited fair – which means that the selection remains relevant to our audiences as well as neighbouring exhibitors based on content, context and objectives, and that as essentially a design trade show we still are a cultural event and act as a platform for design talent, young studios or individual creatives to gain exposure and meet the relevant audiences in order to establish their studios and further their careers in design». Interesting things are also happening at Sharjah. Such as the Architecture Triennial, due to take place in November 2023 and this year will be curated by Nigerian architect Tosin Oshinowo, or the work of the Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council, a pioneering organisation based in Sharjah that promotes cultural and creative initiatives to help empower women, with the aim of developing a sustainable economy to make the most of the craft heritage of the United Arab Emirates.

4 Light installation realised by Suhail Design / Remm Al Bustani during the last edition of Downtown Design, Middle East’s leading fair for contemporary and high-quality design. 6 Through collaboration between women artisans and international designers, Sharjah-based Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council forge a symbiotic relationship between craft, heritage, and the modern economy.

Not far from the Emirates, Saudi Arabia is also looking at a similar model for cultural development. A land of ancient civilisations, deserts, sandstone mountains and breathtaking views, Saudi Arabia is now undergoing profound social changes. Skyscrapers and shopping malls are rising up alongside the ruins of early settlements and a great cultural ferment is running across the whole peninsula. Riyadh for example hosts Noor Riyadh ever year, a major festival of light that fills the Saudi capital with impressive light installations with the aim of involving and cultivating local talent. Dammam, the biggest city on the east coast, is also a cultural destination thanks to the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), a remarkable building designed by Norwegian architects Snøhetta with 100,000 square metres given over to exhibitions, events, shows and workshops. The building is sensational: stainless steel tubes individually shaped and folded make up the outer skin while inside a theatre, cinema, auditorium and a range of exhibition spaces are articulated around a large central atrium that provides access to the upper floors where a large library is located.

Even in São Paolo, a megalopolis with 20 million in habitants, the most highly-populated city in South America, design is a key asset for commercial development and cultural programming. Here design brands, furniture shops, museums and galleries have all share an awareness of the cultural value that the Modernist period left to the country. Conscious of this historic legacy, they look to the future, seeking via numerous initiatives, to reactivate their own city. Etel, for example, is a design gallery that is located in a space created a few years ago in a neighbourhood that was away from the centre, that the gallery contributed to the redevelopment of. Led today by Lissa Carmona, the gallery shows pieces by Jorge Zalszupin, Lina Bo Bardi, Oscar Niemeyer e Giuseppe Scapinelli, to name just a few of the most important.

Another symbolic place in São Paolo is the Casa Zalszupin house and museum, named after the Brazilian master who died in August 2020, that was converted into a cultural space open to the public. Set in a tropical garden in the centre of São Paolo, Casa Zalszupin conserves the legacy of the Brazilian architect and celebrates his influence on the world of design. A Brazilian emigrant of Polish origin, architect and designer Jorge Zalszupin was born in 1922. He came to Brazil in 1949 and designed the house for himself and his family, therefore having the freedom to experiment and unleash his own creative imagination. Since that time almost no restoration work has been carried out and the house stands as a faithful witness to the period when the architect was alive.

8 Casa Zalszupin house and museum is set in a tropical garden in the centre of São Paolo. Jorge Zalszupin’s private home was converted into a cultural space open to the public.

9, 10 The Etel gallery in São Paulo represents several designers belonging to the season of Brazilian Modernism.

Staying in South America, we cannot fail to mention Mexico City, an extremely dynamic city in terms of architecture. Here, last February, on the occasion of the Mexico City’s art week, Argentinian artist Pilar Zeta and Mexican sculptor Andrés Monnier have designed an installation called Doors of Perception for Antipodes at Galerie Philia Mexico, while MASA Gallery has opened its permanent gallery in a heritage building in the Mexican capital, where installations as well as a repository of work from past shows will take place.

11 Pilar Zeta designed an installation called Doors of Perception for Antipodes at Galerie Philia Mexico. 12 Masa Gallery has a permanent new home in the heart of Mexico City.

6 - 7 June 2023

Miami Beach Convention Center