Running from September 4 to 13, 2025, Paris Design Week (PDW – Instagram) turns the City of Light into a sprawling design showcase. From immersive gallery installations and concept-store pop-ups to museum-backed exhibitions and open-air spectacles, the event invites both insiders and the public to explore a wide spectrum of creative expressions. PDW aligns with Maison & Objet (fall edition: September 4–8), positioning Paris as the global design capital for the season!
This year’s iteration marks a rich, experimental 15th edition, featuring over 400 venues across neighborhoods like Le Marais, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Opéra, and Bastille. Expect everything from immersive installations and design school showcases (“Factory”), to thematic spectacles like Mathieu Lehanneur’s helium “Up in the Air” balloon hovering over the city.
Arab World Institute Design Prize 2025: Spotlight on Middle Eastern Creativity
At the heart of PDW’s Middle Eastern presence lies the Arab World Institute’s (IMA) Design Prize 2025. The 2025 edition celebrates design shaping the region’s future through the lens of “tradition and transmission, identities and futures.” Winners across Emerging Talent, Impact Award, Contemporary Craft, and Grand Prix will be chosen by a jury chaired by Lina Ghotmeh, with Aidan Imanova, Fahad Al Obaidy, Loulwa Al Radwan, Elias Anastas, Aziza Chaouni, Mariana Wehbe, and Mohammed Hafiz. The awards and opening exhibition take place in Paris on 3 September 2025 at the Institut du Monde Arabe.
Here are the potential winners:
Talent émergent (Emerging Talent) – Abdulrahman Al Muftah (Qatar), Kenan Alkuwatly (Syria/Germany), Civil Architecture (Bahrain/Kuwait), Farès Dhifi (Tunisia), Badih Ghanem (Lebanon/France), Yasmin Tams (Palestine), Djaffar Zizi (Algeria).
Artisanat contemporain (Contemporary Craftsmanship) – Ateliers Zelij (Morocco/France), Anissa Bedoui (Tunisia), BEIT Collective & Hamza Mekdad (Lebanon/France), Izri Design (Morocco), Shewekar Elgharably (Egypt), Julia Ibbini (Jordan/UK), Sara Jomaa (Tunisia), Dorra Khlass (Tunisia), Studio Saffar (Kuwait/Lebanon), Yassine Touati (Morocco).
Prix de l’Impact (Arab Bank Switzerland Impact Prize) – Bricklab (Saudi Arabia), Creative Space Beirut (Lebanon), Datecrete Studio & Lab (MENA), Dina Haddadin (Jordan), Fabraca Studios (Lebanon), Maraj (Bahrain–US), Twelve Degrees (Jordan).
Grand Prix – Aljoud Lootah Design Studio (UAE), Aulyom Studio / Moulay Hafid Sdikiene (Morocco–France), AW2 Architecture & Interiors (Saudi Arabia), Loay Burwais (Libya), Sahar Madanat / Twelve Degrees (Jordan), MF & Associates (Egypt/UAE), Studio Manda (Lebanon), Ala Tannir (Lebanon), X Architects (UAE).
Design Space AlUla at Lafayette Anticipations
Beyond the Arab World Institute, another strong Middle Eastern presence at Paris Design Week comes from Design Space AlUla, hosted at Lafayette Anticipations from September 11–13.
The initiative is part of Saudi Arabia’s ongoing investment in cultural programming through Arts AlUla and the French Agency for AlUla Development (Afalula). At its core, Design Space AlUla explores how AlUla’s dramatic landscapes, ancient heritage, and desert ecology can inform contemporary design practices.
This year, the program brings together a cross-cultural group of collaborators including Hall Haus, Leen Ajlan, Leo Orta and Peculiar Erosions.
Together, the IMA Prize exhibition and Design Space AlUla mark the most visible contributions from the Middle East at this year’s Paris Design Week. Both highlight different approaches, one through emerging talent and craft, the other through site-specific collaboration, but each underlines how the region’s designers are steadily claiming space within the international design calendar.
Georges Mohasseb at Galerie Gosserez: Whispers of the Forest
Adding to the Middle Eastern representation at Paris Design Week 2025, Lebanese architect and designer Georges Mohasseb, founder of Studio Manda, unveils a solo exhibition titled Whispers of the Forest at Galerie Gosserez (September 3–27).
The exhibition introduces two new collections – Tapir and Rhino – conceived as sculptural furniture with organic lines and a refined materiality.
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The Tapir collection, crafted in shaped wenge and upholstered with DEDAR fabrics, emphasizes soft curves and tactile contrasts, turning functional seating into a sensory encounter.
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The Rhino collection, developed in collaboration with Lebanon’s Matterlab, uses honeycombed oxidized concrete to create sideboards that blend monolithic strength with fragmented volumes, playing on light and shadow.
Presented in a scenography imagined as a collector’s domestic interior, the pieces interact with vegetation, paintings, and curiosities to evoke travel, memory, and natural forms. The result is an environment where furniture becomes both functional and sculptural, bridging art and design.
For Mohasseb, wood remains central, a living material that embodies transformation and intimacy. Through his Beirut-based studio, he continues to pursue a dialogue between tradition, material experimentation, and contemporary craft.
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