Dubai Design Week 2024
From Canada to Dubai: Designer Pria Rajput Reflects on Global Insights from Dubai Design Week 2024
Dubai, UAE / Vancouver, Canada — This past November, Pria Rajput, Principal Designer of Black Label Designs, attended the milestone 10th edition of Dubai Design Week 2024. The annual festival is one of the Middle East’s most influential platforms for design, showcasing over 500 designers and makers from more than 40 countries. For Rajput, a Canadian-based creative whose practice bridges hospitality, wellness, and retail design, the experience offered lessons in scale, storytelling, and cultural connection.
Q: As a Canadian designer, what inspired you to attend Dubai Design Week 2024?
Pria Rajput (PR):
Design is global. Living and working in Canada has given me a unique lens, we design for diverse communities that bring in layers of culture, migration, and heritage. I wanted to see how those conversations translated in the Middle East, where tradition and innovation collide so boldly. Dubai Design Week felt like the perfect stage to absorb new perspectives and reflect on what it means to be a truly global designer.
Q: What stood out most from your time at the fair?
PR: The sheer diversity of voices. Downtown Design, the anchor fair, felt like a living atlas of creativity — from collectible editions to experimental installations. What stayed with me were the designers who reimagined everyday materials: I saw furniture crafted from recycled refrigerator parts, and installations using seed paper that symbolized resilience.
As someone who integrates branding with interiors back home, I was struck by how many of these works were not just about aesthetics but about narrative — each telling a story of heritage, place, or environmental urgency.
Pria Rajput (PR):
Design is global. Living and working in Canada has given me a unique lens, we design for diverse communities that bring in layers of culture, migration, and heritage. I wanted to see how those conversations translated in the Middle East, where tradition and innovation collide so boldly. Dubai Design Week felt like the perfect stage to absorb new perspectives and reflect on what it means to be a truly global designer.
Q: What stood out most from your time at the fair?
PR: The sheer diversity of voices. Downtown Design, the anchor fair, felt like a living atlas of creativity — from collectible editions to experimental installations. What stayed with me were the designers who reimagined everyday materials: I saw furniture crafted from recycled refrigerator parts, and installations using seed paper that symbolized resilience.
As someone who integrates branding with interiors back home, I was struck by how many of these works were not just about aesthetics but about narrative — each telling a story of heritage, place, or environmental urgency.
Q: How did the experience shape your perspective as a global designer?
PR: Being there reminded me that design is a universal language, but one that speaks in accents. What I learned in Dubai was the importance of local context in adding depth. Many of the regional works were rooted in Arabic geometry, natural landscapes, or cultural rituals, yet they felt completely modern.
It challenged me to look at my own Canadian context differently: how can I draw more boldly from the textures of my own environment, from the Pacific coastlines to urban multiculturalism, and still create spaces that resonate globally?
Q: What lessons did the people you met leave with you?
PR: Conversations with designers from across the world taught me three things:
Adaptability is key; every creative I spoke to was navigating change, whether it was due to climate, material shortages, or shifting cultural narratives.
Collaboration enriches the work; the best projects I saw were born from partnerships across disciplines and borders.
Humility sustains creativity, no matter how accomplished, most designers spoke with openness and curiosity. That reinforced my belief that design is about listening as much as it is about leading.
Q: What are you bringing back into your own practice in Canada?
PR: I’m returning with a commitment to keep my design practice both local and global. Local in the sense of celebrating Canadian stories and communities. Global in the sense of staying connected to these larger conversations on sustainability, culture, and innovation.
Dubai Design Week reminded me that the most memorable designs are those that welcome people in, invite them to belong, and leave them changed. That’s a philosophy I want to continue embedding in every hospitality, wellness, or retail project we take on at Black Label Designs.
PR: Being there reminded me that design is a universal language, but one that speaks in accents. What I learned in Dubai was the importance of local context in adding depth. Many of the regional works were rooted in Arabic geometry, natural landscapes, or cultural rituals, yet they felt completely modern.
It challenged me to look at my own Canadian context differently: how can I draw more boldly from the textures of my own environment, from the Pacific coastlines to urban multiculturalism, and still create spaces that resonate globally?
Q: What lessons did the people you met leave with you?
PR: Conversations with designers from across the world taught me three things:
Adaptability is key; every creative I spoke to was navigating change, whether it was due to climate, material shortages, or shifting cultural narratives.
Collaboration enriches the work; the best projects I saw were born from partnerships across disciplines and borders.
Humility sustains creativity, no matter how accomplished, most designers spoke with openness and curiosity. That reinforced my belief that design is about listening as much as it is about leading.
Q: What are you bringing back into your own practice in Canada?
PR: I’m returning with a commitment to keep my design practice both local and global. Local in the sense of celebrating Canadian stories and communities. Global in the sense of staying connected to these larger conversations on sustainability, culture, and innovation.
Dubai Design Week reminded me that the most memorable designs are those that welcome people in, invite them to belong, and leave them changed. That’s a philosophy I want to continue embedding in every hospitality, wellness, or retail project we take on at Black Label Designs.
About Black Label Designs
Black Label Designs is a Canadian studio specializing in branding and interiors for hospitality, wellness, and retail spaces. Led by Principal Designer Pria Rajput, the studio merges art-forward aesthetics with strategy to craft spaces that drive both community and commerce.
Black Label Designs is a Canadian studio specializing in branding and interiors for hospitality, wellness, and retail spaces. Led by Principal Designer Pria Rajput, the studio merges art-forward aesthetics with strategy to craft spaces that drive both community and commerce.
