I wrote about the state of Emirati design for the Future Nomads exhibition—curated by Faculty—catalogue at Art Abu Dhabi this year
Today, there are a number of generous design-oriented initiatives eager to support, develop and mentor the young Emirati designer. Except—at the current moment, there’s almost more platforms than there are designers. We could look to the education system, with its relative dearth of design majors, where it’s not unusual for a would-be product designer to end up settling for architecture or interior design, for want of more specialised options. We could look at the aforementioned proliferation of art and design events, which can be a little hasty in exhibiting young Emirati artists and designers on high-stakes international stages before they have really had the time and space to find their own voices. And above all, we could look to the relative lack of manufacturing facilities—or rather, willing manufacturers—in the UAE. The majority of production has to be outsourced, which posits a serious challenge to product development.