Design Doha announced the inaugural winners of the Design Doha Prize, established to provide recognition and support for exceptional designers in the categories of product design, interior design, furniture design, and craft.

The announcement was made during a ceremony held at the Barahat Msheireb, the heart of the Design District in Qatar’s capital city. Design Doha is a new Qatar Museums’ biennial, established under the leadership of Qatar Museums’ Chairperson, HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and a showcase for excellence and innovation in the design community in Qatar and the MENA region.

The winners of the 2024 Design Doha Prize are:

  • Product Design: Fabraca Studios (Lebanon)
  • Interior Design: Fadaa (Jordan)
  • Furniture Design: Sayar & Garibeh (Lebanon)
  • Craft: Abeer Seikaly (Jordan)

Sheikha Al Mayassa expressed her heartfelt congratulations to the winners, mentioning that their exceptional talent and promising careers embody the triumph of Design Doha. ‘Through their remarkable artistry and rising careers, the recipients exemplify the success of Design Doha in offering a new platform to practitioners across the Arab world helping them to build professional pathways and to engage with the acclaimed international design professionals who have convened at this landmark inaugural event.’

Design Doha Prize recipients receive QAR100,000 (approximately USD27,500) to sustain their practices, as well as mentorship support from international designers and industry experts, access to new platforms to show their work and generate additional market exposure, a year of logistical and insurance support, and more.

Fahad Al Obaidly, Deputy Director of Programming and Partnerships at Design Doha, highlighted the longstanding tradition of design excellence in the MENA region. ‘Design excellence in the MENA region is nothing new, but being able to celebrate the accomplished and inventive designers who are based here through Design Doha further elevates and supports designers and our creative industries. We congratulate this year’s Design Doha Prize recipients and are excited to see how the award helps them in their creative and commercial practices.’

Design Doha Prize winners were selected by a jury of renowned design professionals and curators representing local, regional, and international design communities.

Competitors for the prize were required to have an established design business in the MENA region with an active commercial history of between two and ten years. Submissions were judged on criteria including innovation, practicality (including potential market demand), sustainability, and social responsibility.

The winners of this year’s prize were selected from a short list of talented designers including Mary-Lynn Massoud & Carlo Massoud; Kawther Alsaffar; Omar ‘Chakil’ Elwakil; Richard Yasmine; and Samer Saadeh (Product Design); Abir Fawaz; Aisha Al Mohannadi & Kaltham Al Kuwari; Areen Hassan; Bisher Tabbaa; Rana Abdulmajeed (Interior Design); Ammar Kalo; Asmaa Said and Mentalla Said; Batool Alshaikh; Stephanie Sayar and Charbel Garibeh; Sizar Alexis (Furniture Design); and Abeer Seikaly; Amine Asselman; Boo Design; Maryam Al-Homaid; Nisreen Abu Dail (Craft).

Arab Design Now, the anchor event of the inaugural Design Doha biennial, opened on 24 February 2024 and remains on view through 5 August 2024. The exhibition is a survey of more than 70 Arab designers featuring 38 commissioned works. Design Doha also includes five other exhibitions, commissioned public artworks, and events and panel presentations covering architecture, urbanism, landscape and graphic design, craft and other subjects.

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