Art Dubai Group has appointed William Knight as managing director and head of design at the company.

As owners of the region’s leading portfolio of art and design events in the Middle East and North Africa, Knight has been appointed to lead and develop the company’s design portfolio, which currently includes the region’s largest design event and trade show, Dubai Design Week and Downtown Design, as well as the collectible design fair Design Days Dubai.

Knight has played a prominent role in establishing London as a world-class design destination over 17 years since joining the UK Design Council in 1999. Knight was the deputy director of the London Design Festival (2004-2012), joining at its inception and playing a critical role in establishing and developing what is now one of the world’s foremost design events.

Since 2012 he has been show director, Design Trade Events at Media 10 Ltd, leading two of the UK capital’s key annual design events: 100% Design and Clerkenwell Design Week.

Knight’s experience of developing both successful design trade events and high-profile public programming will be fully applied to developing design promotion activity for Dubai. The city is poised to take advantage not only of its regional position but an outstanding commitment to the power of design demonstrated through government investment in the infrastructure of design, exemplified by the rapidly growing Dubai Design District, said the statement.

Knight said: “It’s an exceptional time to be working at the forefront of design promotion in Dubai; the city is already the region’s design hub and is primed to become one of the world's key design destinations. I’m hugely excited by the opportunity to develop a unique, sustainable and globally relevant series of events and to contribute to the swiftly evolving design culture in Dubai.”

Ben Floyd, CEO of Art Dubai Group, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome William on board. There are few candidates worldwide with such high-level commercial and non-commercial experience combined, and I look forward to working with him to help grow the city as a global destination for design trade and talent.”

Art Dubai Group (Art Dubai Fair) is a public/private company established in 2007. The company’s portfolio includes over 25 activities staged across the city including fairs, festivals, exhibitions, commissions, prizes and awards, talks, workshops and education programmes.

Officially taking up his position from March 1, Knight retains a consultative role with Media 10 Ltd for the forthcoming edition of Clerkenwell Design Week. - TradeArabia News Service