Design
Dubai Holding plays a leading role in design and innovation throughout the emirate. Dubai Design District (d3) is one of Dubai Holding’s industry-focused business districts providing a dedicated design ecosystem for companies and talent in the creative sectors from around the world.
d3 was commissioned in 2013 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to champion the development of the region’s design sector by providing a purpose-built, first-of-its-kind destination for emerging and established creative artists, designers, architects, and professionals across the creative sectors.
With state-of-the-art infrastructure designed to meet the needs of the industry and a business-friendly framework, d3 offers creative talent the tools to drive innovation that permeates through various areas of Dubai’s economy, further reinforcing Dubai’s status as a UNESCO Creative City of Design.
Bringing together thousands of talented creative professionals, designers and artists to work alongside hundreds of business partners and entrepreneurs, d3 is home some of world’s leading fashion, architecture, art, furniture and interior design companies including Burberry, Dior, Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster + Partners.
Growing the Design Sector
The d3 and Deloitte MENA Design Outlook report, published in 2019, showcased the significant growth potential of the sector across the region. To cater to this growth, creators of d3 curated the community to be the most connected design, fashion and luxury retail destination in the world.
Today, d3 is the creative heart of the city and Dubai’s leading lifestyle and business destination that challenges thousands of people to rethink the regular while creating opportunities and events that drive the growth of the design sector.
d3 is a strategic partner for some of the region’s most popular and sought-after events that attract international artists and audiences to cultural exhibitions and gatherings such as Dubai Design Week, Sole DXB and the d3 Architecture Festival. The destination also regularly stages a busy roster of industry talks, workshops and educational programming, accessible to people of all ages.
At d3 is the cutting-edge startup incubator and enabling platform, in5, which aims to support the fashion and design industries by offering students and entrepreneurs the opportunity to transform their ideas into successful commercial ventures. This ecosystem is further supported by the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation, the region’s only university exclusively dedicated to design and innovation. It offers the first-of-its-kind Bachelor of Design that allows students to map their own educational journey by exploring two concentrations from four: Product Design, Multimedia Design, Fashion Design and Strategic Design Management.
