The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

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After last year’s roaring success, Cairo Design Week (CDW) is back with another thriving edition. Last year, the event took place in the illustrious Baron Empain Palace. To expand its reach this year, CDW will be taking place from February 23 to March 2 in three different locations: Salah Al-Din Citadel, Al Cayan at Heliopolis, and Al Ismaelia at Downtown Cairo, transforming them into creative district hubs.

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CDW, being a leading design platform, aims to connect and enrich Egypt’s creative mindsets, including students and business advocates, while promoting our heritage through innovation. CDW hosts diverse activities, including summits, workshops, painting exhibitions, products and furniture exhibitions, art and fashion exhibitions, and sculpture and architectural displays. It caters to art enthusiasts, exhibitors, collectors, creators, designers, and architects alike. Notable exhibitors such as SEDA, Sherine Mahgoub, and IMAGE showcase their contributions to the Egyptian design scene. Its aim is not only to showcase the different innovative design approaches by Egyptian talents but also to allow similar minds to connect and inspire each other. It is an event to exhibit the capabilities Egyptian talents could reach to honour our heritage and culture through innovative approaches that promote the quality of living in Egypt and explore its vast potential. CDW is a great event to reveal to the world how rich our culture is while spotlighting the role of Egyptian designers. It helps us inspire, create, and design something distinctive.

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Rather than only exhibiting artists’ and designers’ work, CDW will spice things up by hosting different challenges in different designing areas, all under the Egyptian context, followed by the Cairo Design Awards (CDA) and special performances. One of the challenges is an urban design contest hosted by CDW focused on Maadi and Zamalek’s streets. Architects or Urbanists are required to present a design that breathes new life into these urban spaces, seeing as how much we neglect our streets, thinking that they are narrow, almost looking like alleys that don’t require our care or attention when they need to be the safest urban aspect.

Adding to the excitement, CDW presents another challenging competition organised by Design 101 in collaboration with CSTC and curated by Shosha Kmal. This competition spans three categories: Product Design, Fashion Design, and Art, providing a platform for creative minds to showcase their talents. If you have a passion for design and wish to share your vision with like-minded individuals, consider participating and seizing the opportunity to expand your social network.

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CDW is the ultimate design event that transforms Cairo into an artistic canvas to perceive the city in a fresh and imaginative light. The event shines a spotlight on brands, designers, and businesses contributing to the growth and innovation of the Egyptian design landscape. It has a wide, tangled web of opportunities, trying to push Egypt up the ladder of innovation and design that every designer and artist should pursue.