Pavilion Downtown Dubai, a leading artistic venue for the local UAE artist community, will play host to leading designers including Beau McClellan, Joost Bakker and Scarlet Opus at the inaugural Festival of Interior Design (FoID) in Dubai.

The festival organisers, Association of Professional Interior Designers (APID), said the festival will feature three exciting days of design-centric events in Dubai.

The festival will run from October 22 to 24 in conjunction with this year’s edition of the Index International Design Exhibition 2011, to be held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The program will include design talks, movie screenings, networking events and other activities under the themes - ‘Prognostication’ day, ‘Preservation’ day, and ‘Illumination’ day.

“We are very excited to host these events as part of the inaugural Festival of Interior Design as this will also allow us to live up to our vision of being a prime venue where local artistic community can meet, hold art exhibitions and host lectures and workshops,' said Yasmine Rasool, art co-ordinator, The Pavilion Downtown Dubai.

“Our partnership with Apid reflects a common goal of being able to showcase the creativity of emerging talents in the UAE and act as a strategic platform to discuss new trends and issues in the artistic community,” she remarked.

‘Prognostication’ day will be held on October 22 and will include a seminar titled ‘Catch the Color’ by NCS, movie screenings, and a presentation on the latest design trends by Scarlet Opus, a leading trend forecasting and business development firm for interior products and services.

The second day will be ‘Illumination’ day and will feature a presentation by Danilo Mandelli from Viabizzuno on the ‘8 rules of Light’ in addition to a special lighting workshop and lighting themed soiree by multi-award winning lighting design expert Beau McClellan.

McClellan is a renowned artist and multi-award winning lighting design expert. Under his design firm, Beau McClellan Design, he has created a wide collection of lighting based products and has also been commissioned to render lighting design services for film, set design, music and advertising.

The third and final day called ‘Preservation’ day will include a screening of the ‘Greenhouse’ movie followed by a special video teleconference with ‘Greenhouse’ creator Joost Bakker.

Bakker is a discipline-crossing creative who constantly draws on his ‘horti-culture’ to make artful commentary on the world’s wasteful ways.

Working exclusively with the discard of human activity, he has been commissioned to design furniture, vertical gardens and event spaces in his trademark style juxtaposing nature and industry.

The day will conclude with a special networking event featuring leading young British artist Amartey Golding who will create live art at The Pavilion Downtown Dubai, they added.

Golding draws large figurative portraits on paper and canvas mixed with photography, a key focus being the thoughts and contemplations of the individual and their identities.

He puts his art on the streets as well as in galleries, which resembles his feeling of being at home and working in any environment or crowd.

On his participation, Bakker said, “Being able to reach out to a Middle East audience allows me to convey my vision of a more environment friendly world to live in.”

“Despite not being able to physically present at the event, the wonders of modern technology will give me the chance to share my experiences and views on the world’s wasteful ways and how we can start making a difference by adopting and implementing more green initiatives,” he added.

Phil Pond, Dream Weaver, Scarlet Opus, said, “We are delighted to be taking part in the first FoID as it gives us an opportunity to talk about the key trends and changes in today’s interiors market sector.”

“The Middle East region has a wonderful cultural heritage demonstrating a wonderful synthesis of vibrant hues and colors in traditional Arabic elements. Our presentation at The Pavilion Downtown Dubai will focus on talking new trends and sharing a view of the future in consumer motivation, design direction and color,” he added.

The key events at the festival include a Product Design competition, with the top eight entries to be showcased at ‘thejamjar’. The top four finalists will later be auctioned off at the FoID Gala Dinner on October 22.

“The partner events at The Pavilion Downtown Dubai are the results of the extensive preparations that we have been making for FoID,' said Farida Abdulla Kamber Al Awadhi, president of APID.

'Our goal is to hold these activities with the intention of getting the whole city involved, giving us a wider extension and allowing us the opportunity to showcase emerging creative talent and host engaging lectures and discussions on the latest in interior design trends today,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service