Presenting leading international furniture brands from different countries, Decofair this year focused on local talent and businesses. The expo is home to 68 booths containing the designs of both corporate and individual interior designers.
The exhibition has also been an opportunity for new talents and fresh graduates to showcase their work to the world; an interior design competition is also being held on the sidelines of the event.
“Visitors will vote for the best entrants via SMS and the winners get to go home with SR25,000,” said Walaa Al-Otaibi, a member of Al-Sunaidi Expo team, which organized the event.
“This amount will help new designers establish their own companies. It is also an opportunity for them to market their talent to other designers and hopefully new clients,” she added.
Competitors are mostly fresh graduates looking to promote their ideas and show their talent to people who are interested in interior design. There are five groups of competitors who have been tasked with designing a living room on an unlimited budget.
“Our group contains four recent graduates in interior design who aim to win this contest to start our own design business,” said Nadia Mandoora, one of the competitors. “We’ve put everything we’ve studied into action — this included the brainstorming aspect, choosing furniture and designing the living room,” she added.
Decofair is a great opportunity for small businesses and fresh graduates to market their names, said Kholoud Attar, the founder and creative director of Design Magazine. “Last year they astonished us with a great exhibition and this year, not only did they astonish us but they also did it while supporting young designers and small business, which shows the faith they have in the local talent,” she said.
One of the corners of the exhibition was displaying the work of 40 disabled women who are part of The Saudi Factory for Embroidery and Sewing. This is the first time they are participating in the event.
“Social and national responsibility is needed to help people in need, especially when they have such talent that needs to be acknowledged by the public,” said Haya Al-Sunaidi, founder of Al-Sunaidi Expo. She added that she wishes other exhibitions would give participants the same opportunity to present their items and get the support they need.
