Winners of the first AlUla Design Award announced at Saudi Design Festival

A total of six designers and design studios were chosen to produce and present work for the Royal Commission for AlUla

Winners of the inaugural AlUla Design Award were announced at Saudi Design Festival. Photo: Royal Commission for AlUla

Six designers and design studios have been selected as the winners of the first AlUla Design Award.

The announcement was made during a ceremony on Friday at the Saudi Design Festival, which completes its 20-day run on Saturday.

The winners are Harry Dobbs Design x Rukun, a British and Saudi design studio; Nour Shourbagy and Reem Bashawri, both designers from Saudi Arabia; Lebanese designer Tarek Elkassouf, who works in Australia; Niko Kapa, a Greek designer in Dubai; and Saudi studio Mohamad Baalbaki x AlJoharah AlRasheed.

The winners were selected via open call from 400 applications, with shortlisted designs selected by a jury comprising individuals from the fields of architecture, design, and media. Among the jury are Princess Noura bint Faisal Al Saud, who works at the Saudi Fashion Commission, Summayah Al-Sulaiman, chief executive of the Saudi Architecture and Design Commission, and Cyril Zammit, a designer adviser and consultant working in Dubai.

The open call asked designers and creative practitioners to “interpret the region’s natural and cultural legacies into exceptional products for contemporary audiences”, taking into consideration AlUla’s landscape, archaeology and history.

For his winning proposal, Kapa has designed a collection of accessories drawing from AlUla’s natural landscape, while Bashawri has envisioned a line of luxurious winter shawls and Shourbagy wants to create travel carry-ons and clutches with motifs drawn from the heritage site’s landscapes.

As part of the award, the winners will have their designs produced and presented by the Royal Commission for AlUla.

In a statement, Nora AlDabal, the arts and creative planning director for the Royal Commission, announced that the next edition of the AlUla Design Award will open for submissions “shortly”, asking contemporary designers to “share their inspirational interpretations of AlUla for the world to admire and enjoy.”