In a viral live video broadcast on social media platforms, the second round of the Cairo Designathon concluded its design marathon on 1 May.
The event’s conclusion took place with the announcement of the winning teams in the only online collaborative design marathon in Egypt and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Under the theme “Design Future Past”, Cairo Designathon Round II (CDRII) launched the call for participation at the beginning of March, with 150 participants accepted to compete in 17 teams across four design challenges.
The CDRII aimed to imagine what design, craft, and industry would look like with the increased use and availability of future digital technologies.
The design marathon took place online from the 17 to 21 April, and ended in three International Jury sessions on 22 April, with esteemed jurors from around the world taking part.
The four design challenges for round II were: Furniture design; Light Fixtures; Woodwork crafts; and Social design. Each design challenge was guided by a stakeholder from the industry and area of impact, namely: Pinocchio Furniture; 3 Brothers Lighting; Nadim Group; and Megawra Built Environment Collective.
For five days, 17 teams of Egyptian and international designers from various design disciplines worked collaboratively in their assigned design challenges, in a series of online design workshops across multiple collaborative platforms.
The design teams were aided by 14 Design Facilitators, and Veteran and Premium Designers from Egypt and Italy, who helped manage the logistics of the design workshops.
The event also featured 16 design talks by renowned Egyptian and international designers, and three
international design films screenings in partnership with the “Film My Design” film festival.
The event organisers worked on coordinating and directing the workshops, with the organisers including: Architect Mohamed Radwan, Co-Founder of CDR11; Amr Orensa, Co-founder of CDR11; Hisham El Essawy, Co-founder of CDR11; Professor Ahmed El-Seragy, Director of Enterprise at the School of Engineering, University of Lincoln, UK; and Assistant Professor Nadia Volchansky, Director of Undergraduate Studies, at the George Washington University, USA.
Shosha Kamal, an award winning designer and founder of Shosha Kamal Design House and Annure foundation, also joined the Cairo Designathon as Design Ambassador.
On 22 April, three International jury committees evaluated the 17 teams design solutions, and picked four winning teams, one in each design challenge, and four runners-up teams.
The announcement of the winners was made through an international live broadcast video that was attended by the organisers, partners, design facilitators, members of the jury, and the participants.
