Discussing the design landscape in the region, Directors of Amman, Beirut and Casablanca come together to continue a conversation that started in Beirut in 2017 about the objectives of uniting the effort to empower design and share resources.

Rana Beiruti, Director, Amman Design Week
Soukeina Hachem, Director, Casablanca Design Week
Doreen Toutikian, Director, Beirut Design Week
Moderated by Rawan Kashkoush, Dubai Design Week

About Amman Design Week
Amman Design Week is an immersive experience in local and regional design and culture. Focused on creating a forum for learning, exchange and collaboration, this platform empowers designers through its comprehensive program of large-scale curated exhibitions, student and community programs, workshops, talks, competitions, and cultural events. The third edition of Amman Design Week will take place in October 2019.

Rana Beiruti is the Director and co-founder of Amman Design Week, and the founder of platform, a curatorial initiative dedicated to building connections between designers and innovators in Jordan and the world. As an independent curator with a background in architecture and an MBA, she previously held the role of Director of The Lab at Darat al Funun – The Khalid Shoman Foundation, where she curated a program supporting emerging and established artists, and also championed the organization of Darat al Funun’s archive of 30 years of history in art from the Arab World.

About Casablanca Design Week
Casablanca Design Week is a cultural event that aims to bring together actors of the worlds of design and creativity through a multitude of totally open, free events. The goal is to bring together a creative community and foster interactions between the different actors of the sector and the ecosystem (amateur and professional designers, industrialists, entrepreneurs, institutions, the public, and other local NGOs) with a program of events, exhibitions, conferences and trainings that will paint the city with the colors of culture, art and design.

Soukeina Hachem is a multidisciplinary designer whose work in design and in culture aims to create social and systems change. She is the founder of SHAPE, a strategic design consultancy and also of HOUNA, a collaborative platform that aims at strengthening creative economy. She also initiated the first edition of Casablanca Design Week in October 2017.

About Beirut Design Week
Established in 2012, Beirut Design Week is the largest growing design festival in the Middle East & North Africa. Bringing together more than 25,000 visitors at over 150 events in various locations around Beirut, BDW, now in its seventh consecutive year, showcases the best of Lebanese and international design in order to strengthen creative economies and foster entrepreneurship, all within the context of region’s rich cultural heritage. The main goal of the event is to encourage intercultural exchange, design education, social impact, and design entrepreneurship. BDW is initiated and organized by the MENA Design Research Center, a non-profit organization, which focuses on promoting a diverse understanding of design in the region through collaborative multidisciplinary projects and rigorous design research.

Doreen Toutikian is an interdisciplinary designer, researcher and a cultural entrepreneur. She is Founding Director of Beirut Design Week (beirutdesignweek.org), Co-founder & President of the Board of MENA Design Research Center (menadrc.org), and Co-founder of loop (looporg.eu). She is also an educator on design research methodology and design theory to MA students, as well as a member of the pedagogical committee of the Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts (alba.edu.lb).