A 3D-printed brace and hugging chair were among the pieces on show at this year's Global Grad Show and MENA Grad Show, as design students react to the coronavirus pandemic and global activist movements.
Sixty projects by university graduates from the Middle East and North Africa are currently on show at the annual design festival Dubai Design Week under the MENA Grad Show banner, including a mobile dialysis centre and an AI device that reacts to offensive speech.
The NYMO robot is on display at the MENA Grad Show
The Global Grad Show normally takes place physically in Dubai, but was moved online as many global graduates were unable to travel to the region this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Alongside the virtual exhibition, a physical event, called the MENA Grad Show, presented the work of local students. Many of the chosen projects for both shows focus on healthcare, an issue that curator Carlo Rizzo said built upon the work shown last year.
Sapthen is a 3D-printed brace
"When I edited last year's edition, I really noticed how the vast majority of projects were looking at making the life of patients and people living with illness and disability as close to a normal life as possible," Rizzo told Dezeen.
"Whereas this year there is a really strong focus on access," he added. "So this idea of, for example, a remote clinic that does dialysis and moves around, or a digital system that allows a doctor to monitor remotely what's happening at home...