In a lavish ceremony at the foot of the pyramids last week, Cairo Designathon celebrated the winners of Cairo Design Marathon II, and awarded the Cairo Designathon Award to the winning teams and the runner ups. The luxurious ceremony was attended by Egypt’s Top Brass designers as well as a number of Society dignitaries, as well as the winners from Egypt, Lebanon and China, and the ceremony features live music by Nathalie Bishara.
Founded by Mohamed Radwan in 2020, and confounded by Amr Orensa and Hisham el Essawy, Cairo Designathon is the Middle East’s first and only collaborative design marathon.
Cairo Design Marathon II was run last April, and witnessed 150 designers from 15 countries competing in 4 diverse design challenges:
The ‘Furniture Design Challenge’, which was won by “Pupa” a teens Bedroom Furniture That Grows design, by team F2 which was composed of Lebanese and Egyptian designers.
The ‘Lighting Fixture Design Challenge’ was won by “Sishn” a modular outdoor lighting unit designed by team L3 of Egyptians alongside an Iranian Product designer.
The ‘Woodwork Design Challenge’ Tribuzz an upcycled wood scrap cut into different variations of triangle-shaped tiles, by team W4 from Egypt took home the first place award.
Finally the ‘Social Design Challenge’ was awarded to Al-Hattaba Future Residents a aimed at developing the historical area ‘Al-Hattaba’ by Team S3, of Egyptian designers joined by an Emirati designer.
The winning teams as well as the runner-ups received their awards during the ceremony and a number of industry figures and leader gave speeches during the course of the 3 hours ceremony.
The ceremony ended with a teaser of Cairo Design Marathon III set for 2022, and the surprise reveal of “DeForum” a new collaboration between Cairo Design Awards and Cairo Designathon.
