INDEX 2018. WHERE EAST MEETS WEST

Silk Road is the theme announced for the second INDEX design event of 2018 bringing value-driven products and premium brands together in Dubai. This more compact INDEX, which takes place alongside organizer dmg events’ latest exhibition, FIM – dedicated to showcasing materials, fittings and technology used to manufacture interior products – follows March’s lead event, which gathered more than 27,000 creative minds together for four-days of interior design exhibiting and networking.

Shoot for INDEX Show held at DWTC on March 27, 2017 Dubai UAE Photo by Lester Apuntar/ITP Images

INDEX, one of the Middle East’s largest interiors exhibition, will take place from the 16th – 18th September following on from March’s annual flagship event and will offer a show different to its usual buyer experience as it explores one of the most significant historical design routes of all time.With a focus on East meets West, the show is presenting itself as a modern-day Silk Road; the famous cross-continental design pathway that opened-up new markets for Asian and European design philosophies.

H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum – Index- Day 1 , Dubai World Center , Dubai , (photo by Ajith Narendra) ( ITP Images)

It is set to welcome 400 furniture and décor design and supply companies from across the continents, all specializing in fit-out and interior products for commercial, hospitality, retail and residential design projects.

Samantha Macdonald, INDEX Event Director explained: “The Silk Road started over 2,000 years ago. Its path ventured through the deserts of the Middle East and through its many routes became the first way that Europe and the West were introduced to the likes of silk, dyes, precious stones, porcelain, spices and perfumes. In return, the route took western goods like glassware, woollen textiles, rugs, carpets animal firs and skins to a new market in the East, making it the world’s first and then premiere trade route. Two millennia on the heart of it was design and creativity and the region – the UAE especially – plays equally as central a role now as being the hub between the two continents.”

Shoot for INDEX Show held at DWTC on March 28, 2017 Dubai UAE Photo by Lester Apuntar/ITP Images

INDEX September will focus on individual designs and value have driven products from Asia, sat alongside premium products from Europe. Together, they will allow the show to present a wide selection of interior products coming alive with the colours, patterns and textures that encapsulated The Silk Road when it was its most densely trodden.