Beirut Design Fair debuts alongside Art Fair in Lebanon

The first edition of the Beirut Design Fair (BDF) will take place from September 20 to 24, 2017, at the Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center (BIEL), concurrently with the seventh edition of the Beirut Art Fair. The new fair features 44 galleries representing around 100 designers from Lebanon and abroad. Guillaume Taslé d'Héliand, founder and director of BDF, stated: "Our goal is to promote Lebanon as a cutting-edge reference point for regional creativity. We have gathered evidence here that confirms Beirut has both the legitimacy and the means to become a design capital." The launch builds on the success of the Beirut Art Fair, which in 2015 attracted over 21,000 visitors and generated $3.2 million in revenue, quadruple the previous year's earnings. The growth of the design scene is also fueled by the Beirut Design Week, established in 2012, and a new generation of design students educated in Europe, the United States, and at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA). Lebanon benefits from a diaspora of 14 million people worldwide, creating a vast network that supports the design platform. The Middle East is seen as a growing market for design, with upcoming events including the Iraq Furnexpo in September, and Design Weeks in Dubai (November 13–18) and Cairo (November 21–26). The region is already a hub for contemporary art, exemplified by Art Dubai, which will hold its 12th edition in March.