Culture & Education | Tuesday 21 February, 2017 10:22 am |

The Authority to host the British Contemporary Design Exhibition at Design Days Dubai, a Key Event of Dubai Art Season 2017

In support of the UK-UAE Year of Creative Collaboration, the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated entity for culture, arts and heritage, announced that it is hosting an exhibition of British contemporary design as part of the 2017 edition of Design Days Dubai — the region’s leading collectible design fair. 

 

The ‘Britain Takes Shape’ exhibition is part of a series of initiatives being activated in 2017 to mark the Year of Creative Collaboration between the UAE and UK. Under the co-patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and HRH The Prince of Wales, the Year of Creative Collaboration aims to encourage collaboration and cooperation with government entities and the private sector – in the UAE, the region, and internationally. Dubai Culture is playing a key role in supporting this important initiative between the two countries.

 

The exhibition is part of Dubai Culture’s strategic partnership with Design Days Dubai, which is an important pillar event of Dubai Art Season - the umbrella arts initiative of the city, which rolls out a rich calendar of city-wide activations of art across the city, interactive installations, workshops, exhibitions and live performances, amongst others.

 

The two-month Dubai Art Season is a definitive initiative that aims to highlight the city's global credentials in the arts scene, and brings together artists from around the world for an unmatched celebration of talent, creativity, innovation and cultural diversity.

 

His Excellency Saeed Al Nabouda, Acting Director General of Dubai Culture, said: “The themes of the UK-UAE Year of Creative Collaboration of inclusion, community and next generation are aligned with UAE leadership vision and direction that aim to promote cultural exchange and innovation. In this context, ‘Britain Takes Shape’ will serve as part of our diverse cultural and artistic programme which strengthens existing relationships and creates new ones between people, institutions and businesses to further establish the UAE as a thriving cultural destination, attract international talent, resources and visitors.”

 

 

Curated by Suzanne Trocmé, award-winning furniture designer, author, curator and educator

, ‘Britain Takes Shape’ will feature the work of 10 pioneers of British design. All of the designs on display have been produced in the UK as one-off pieces or in batch production and are shown for the first time in the UAE. Running alongside the exhibition will be a series of talks and workshops hosted by the British-based designers, giving unparalleled access to UAE audiences.

 

Trocmé, who has selected British designers and objects who possess a distinct and original design vocabulary, said: “Britain has a long-standing relationship with creativity and many design pioneers choose to work and live there in the creative hub that shares a sense of community. Spirited and gifted, the creators of the pieces gathered for ‘Britain Takes Shape’, whether British by birth or by adoption or by choice, are all pioneers in very different ways — some invigorating old industries, others pushing processes in the name of design advancement. All pieces show individuality and the mark of the designer’s hand, whether in the design process or in physical construction. ‘Britain Takes Shape’ offers a thoughtful journey into the minds of creators who are not afraid to push boundaries".

 

As part of its vision to be a platform of diverse cultural exchange and innovation, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority has a number of cultural collaboration initiatives underway that aim to strengthen cultural relations on an international and regional level.  By showcasing Dubai’s vibrant creative scene to international audiences, the Authority is focused on initiatives in research, commissions, events and advocacy in order to drive cultural and creative collaboration.

 

The mandate of Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) is to serve as the dedicated government entity for culture, arts, and heritage in the Emirate of Dubai, and to drive the growth of the city’s artistic and cultural landscape.

 

For more information on Dubai Culture, kindly visit:

Web: www.dubaiculture.gov.ae

Facebook: www.facebook.com/DubaiCultureArtsAuthority

Twitter: @DubaiCulture

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/DubaiCulture

Instagram: @dubaiculture

 

Britain Takes Shape (Participates profiles)

 

Many of these British designers have created pieces that feature in permanent museum collections including the Louvre in Paris and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, making this exhibition a perfect fit for Design Days Dubai and its audience of collectors.

 

The exhibitors participating in Britain Takes Shape at Design Days Dubai 2017 include:

 

 

1882 Ltd

1882 Ltd. is a design-led ceramics brand based in Stoke on Trent, England, formed in 2011 by fourth and fifth generations of the Johnson Brothers family. The Johnsons collaborate with pioneering artists and designers to produce dining and decorative objects to lighting and art pieces. These exquisite, exclusive ceramics are sold in retail outlets all over the world, from Japan and China to Europe and the USA. For ‘Britain Takes Shape’, 1882 Ltd presents original work by Max Lamb and Amy Jayne Hughes.

 

Max Lamb, a prolific British designer renowned for creating beautiful pieces that have materials and traditional processes at their core, was the first contemporary designer to visit 1882 Ltd’s old Stoke on Trent bone china factory which used to employ 22,000 workers in its heyday. His Crockery collection is crafted from plaster molds carved by Lamb with the tools of a stone mason. Each piece is slip-cast with a glazed interior in bone china which has great tensile strength due to its animal bone content.

 

Celebrated ceramic artist Amy Jayne Hughes primarily works in clay, and is a keen illustrator, working in an unconventional, observational style combined with painterly washes and colour splashes. Amy has worked and exhibited internationally and was the first Ceramics and Industry Resident at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 2015. The vases she has created for 1882 Ltd in slip-cast fine bone china exude ‘modern decadence’, and seek to re-create the grandeur, opulence, sense of occasion and status of the highly prestigious Porcelain wares produced at the Royal Sevres Factory in the late 17th and 18th Centuries. The decoration, taken from sprig molds carefully cast from museum objects, pays homage to the originals whilst finding a new place in contemporary culture.

1882ltd.com

 

 

Bethan Gray

Award-winning Welsh designer Bethan Gray translates and transforms cultural references into contemporary pieces that are warm, timeless and elegant, and regularly collaborates with craftsmen from the GCC to create her coveted furniture pieces.

 

For ‘Britain Takes Shape’, Bethan’s Shamsian Collection, created in collaboration with Mohamad Reza Shamsian, a highly sought after, masterful Iranian artist, and his team of 70 highly skilled craftsmen based in Muscat, Oman. The collection is inspired by Omani architecture, and features intricate marquetry, a traditional Islamic craft dating back to the sixteenth century, on stained birds-eye maple, in stunning combination with solid brass or iridescent mother of pearl. Detailing on the beautiful Nizwa cabinet takes inspiration from the rounded architectural castellation patterning of the Nizwa Fort in Oman.

 

bethangray.com

 

 

Brodie Neill

Featured in Time Magazine’s annual Design 100, award-winning designer Brodie Neill launched his contemporary furniture and lighting brand Made in Ratio in 2013.

 

 ‘Britain Takes Shape’ will show a collection of his custom-made chairs imbued with the spirit of innovation. Pieces include an elegant, curvilinear rocking lounger and a rock-solid easy chair in Ash-faced plywood from the Cowrie collection; the organic and sensual Alpha stacking chair; the multi-coloured Remix chaise longue carved from reclaimed plastics and woods; the Glacier chaise longue created using pure, optically transparent glass in a limited edition of ten; and the Pleat Bench molded from a single piece of Corian which is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

 

brodieneill.com

 

 

Fredrikson Stallard

Patrik Fredrikson and Ian Stallard began their collaboration in 1995 and have since become internationally recognised as leading exponents of British avant-garde design. They are well known for their ability to translate their creativity into simple yet emotionally engaging furniture and product design. Their cutting edge, conceptually rigorous work has been acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the French National Art Collection, and is sought after by discerning collectors and furniture producers.

 

For Britain Takes Shape, Fredrikson Stallard present Hurricane Mirror Silver, a series of handmade polished aluminium mirrors that bounce light back into a room with distorted, abstract, painterly reflections; Rock #9, which consists of unique hand-carved, abstract, polyurethane pieces supported by raw steel elements; Species III, amorphous, sculpted seating in shades of red; and Vendôme, a series of primeval, bronze candlesticks.

 

www.fredriksonstallard.com

 

 

Richard Woods & Sebastian Wrong

 

Hackney-based artist Richard Woods has been described as a designer, a craftsman, an architect and an interior decorator. He creates highly desirable furniture and transforms the facades and floors of buildings into installations using his signature bright colours, thick lines and cartoonish wood effects.

 

Sebastian Wrong is a designer, creative director and specialist in modern manufacturing techniques. He founded and directed contemporary design brand Established and Sons, and in 2011 launched The Wrong Shop, an online platform selling unique, limited-edition prints by notable international artists and designers. A year later, in collaboration with Danish brand HAY, Wrong founded WH which has since evolved into Wrong.London, a company dedicating entirely to lighting manufacture.

 

Together they have collaborated to create Bent Wood Table, Circle Line Table and Logo Chair, a unique collection which fuses Woods’ distinctive, colourful, wood effects with Wrong’s flair for contemporary furniture.

 

wrong.london, richardwoodsstudio.com

 

 

Alongside established names, Britain Takes Shape will also include the works of emerging and experimental designers.

 

Kim Thomé

London-based Norwegian designer Kim Thomé has a playful approach to design, and a fondness for color and geometric pattern play. He has an affinity for reflection and creating optical scenarios that can change at the viewer’s discretion. Recent commissions include furniture for Bloomberg, candleholders for Atelier Swarovski, a light installation by Aram Gallery, and an Afghan rug for Wallpaper* magazine.

 

Thomé’s semi-translucent One Way Mirror is held in place by solid walnut wedges in a black steel frame. Its reflectivity changes according to its surroundings, allowing the background to merge with the front in different lighting conditions. His wall-mounted bathroom Round and Round mirror magnifies as it sits on a central axis. The round profiles create a graphic aesthetic, but also act as functional, rotating arms which extend towards the user.

kimthome.com

 

 

Michael Wolfson

Philadelphia-born Philip Michael Wolfson was Zaha Hadid’s Head of Design for a decade and is based in London, with a second studio on Miami Beach. Wolfson creates sculptural, experimental furniture and functional art pieces inspired by the early 20th century Modernist movements, particularly Constructivism and Futurism. His unique approach to design and art is informed by the dynamics of fracture and fragmentation – layering and manipulating his materials into fluid shapes and forms, where the dynamics of light, shadow and reflection are an integral part of the seduction of the work.

 

Wolfson will be exhibiting Eruption, a sculptural ‘functional surface’ in acrylic white stone which comes in a limited edition of eight; prototype edition Mini Origami chairs in acid patina steel; ten limited-edition, carbon fibre Lowlounger chairs in a range of colours; wall-mounted installation pieces Why/Why Not derived from the letter Q; and Split Chair High and Split Chair Low, both based on a minimalist stool with a stiff upright Gothic back and a ‘melted’ amorphic back respectively.

 

www.wolfsondesign.com

 

 

 

Studio Silo

Attua Aparicio Torinos and Oscar Lessing have backgrounds in engineering and design. They formed design collaboration Silo Studio while studying Design Products at the Royal College of Art in London, developing a mix of craft and technology, and the exploring the expressive potential in industrial materials. By adopting a ‘handmade hi-tech’ approach, they aim to discover possibilities that the production line does not see.

 

Studio Silo presents Sylvian Deleu, a series of marble-topped tables painted with abstract dye in primary colours, SEEDS Moire cylindrical glassware and Newton’s Bucket Bowls, in blue, green, mint, yellow, black and orange. The bowls are inspired by an experiment conducted by Isaac Newton in 1689 in which he hung a bucket of water from a tightly twisted rope, and let it spin rapidly, making the water form a concave shape. By replacing the rope with a turntable, and the water with non-toxic, coloured gypsum resin, using tools to create random and repeated patterns, and polishing the final product, Studio Silo has created a series of beautiful, unique bowls in a range of sizes.

 

www.silostudio.net

 

 

 

Design Days Dubai 6th edition:  14 –17 March 2017 at Dubai Design District (d3)

 

For more information about Design Days Dubai, please visit the bi-lingual website, www.designdaysdubai.ae and follow the fair via a weekly newsletter, Facebook Instagram and Twitter

About Dubai Culture & Arts Authority:

 

The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) was launched on March 8, 2008 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, in order to drive the growth of the city’s artistic and cultural landscape. The Authority has grown to play a major role in the realization of the Dubai Plan 2021, to highlight Dubai as a thriving capital for creative industries and further embed the Emirate’s credentials as a city of happy, creative and empowered people.

As part of its mandate, Dubai Culture has several initiatives that are focused on strengthening both the historic and modern cultural fabric of Dubai, including Dubai Art Season - the city’s premier umbrella arts initiative which kicks off with Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and encompasses Art Week including Art Dubai, Design Days Dubai, and SIKKA Art Fair, Middle East Film & Comic Con, SIKKA Art Fair - an annual event aimed at promoting Emirati and local artists in the UAE and the wider GCC region, Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre - an annual festival that fosters the art of theatre in the UAE and that is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2016, and Dubai Next - a dynamic platform that aims to showcase the Emirate’s cultural ethos and its vibrant creative scene on the global stage.

The Authority’s other key initiatives include Creatopia (www.creatopia.ae) - the nation’s first government empowered virtual community that guides and nurtures the creative culture of the nation and provides a platform of information and opportunities that lead to exposure and personal growth.

Dubai Culture also plays a leading role in support of the UAE National Strategy for Reading 2026, in particular by undertaking a major refurbishment of all Dubai Public Libraries branches to transform them into state-of-art cultural and artistic hubs. Across all of its branches, Dubai Public Library also provides children and young adults with a range of educational and entertaining activities that encourage the use of its facilities. The ‘Our Summer is Filled with Culture & Arts Programme’ is a Dubai Public Library initiative which complements the UAE National Reading Strategy, with its activities open to all age groups, and which revolve around four key themes: happiness, reading, family and the future.

The Authority also manages more than 17 heritage sites across the Emirate, and is a key government stakeholder in the development of the Dubai Historical District. As the custodian Authority of Dubai’s museum sector, Dubai Culture will officially launch Etihad Museum and in December 2016. The museum will provide platform to encourage cultural exchange and to connect Emirati youth with their culture and history. As part of the Authority mandate to support Dubai’s vision of becoming the focal point of diverse cultural exchange (regionally & globally), the museums will play a catalyst role in preserving Emirati Heritage.

For more information on Dubai Culture, visit www.dubaiculture.gov.ae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Design Days Dubai

Design Days Dubai is presented under the Patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and is held in partnership with the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, the Emirate’s dedicate Authority for culture, arts and heritage.

Returning for its sixth edition, Design Days Dubai is the Middle East and South Asia’s only annual fair dedicated to collectible modern and contemporary design works, this year taking place from March 14-17, 2017. Positioned as a fair of discovery, the fair’s unique format provides an international platform for the region’s emerging design studios and furniture makers to debut their contemporary designs, featuring them alongside an eclectic mix of the world’s leading design galleries. Running parallel to the exhibitor line-up is a programme of special projects, talks, workshops and guided tours allowing visitors to discover and engage with the design community and the works on display.

 

A pillar event of Art Week, Design Days Dubai this year moves to a new location, Dubai Design District (d3), the home for the region’s design and creative industries. As part of the new move, the fair has commissioned the Dubai-based architecture practice, a hypothetical office, to add a series of new features to the venue including a new face and floor plan. Design Days Dubai has the continued support of returning sponsors since its 2012 launch edition, including the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, Van Cleef & Arpels, Audi, and d3.

 

Designdaysdubai.ae | @DesignDaysDubai | #DDD2017