An international design competition label is looking to open a building in Dubai, according to its founder.

"For us, the challenge is to open a showcase in Dubai like we did in Singapore and to develop a building as the creative centre of the region," said Dr Peter Zec, initiator of the Red Dot Design Award. Zec is also head of the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany, and Senator of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID).

"An exhibition will be at the core and around this, we could have all the creative people with their offices.

"However, we can only do it if we find someone who runs it for us since we cannot do it from Germany. We also need investors to fund the project," said Dr Zec.

The Red Dot Design Award dates back to 1955. With about 11,000 entries from more than 60 countries, the award is now the world's largest and most distinguished design competition. It breaks down into three disciplines: product design, communication design and design concept.

Zec likes the pace and pulse of Dubai and sees great potential here for the design industry. "There is a very fast development in this area. I visited the shopping centres here and found people very open-minded," said Dr Zec.

"Everything here is in a state of movement. I find it exciting and see the future here. If you want to make something new and start something new, then this is the place. If additionally, there is a development of design education, then you will have the canvas to develop the quality that comes out of this place."

He said that the internationalisation of the Red Dot concept was essential. "When I had an opportunity to take over Red Dot, it was just German competition. Having worked with international artists, I decided to open up the concept," said Zec. "To begin with, the first decision was to change one-third of the judges to non-Germans. The second decision was to change the name since it was a very long name in German. The symbol of the Red Dot has an interesting association – when you come to a gallery and you see a red dot it means that it has been sold. This was the analogy in my mind."

He joined the organisation in 1991 and took this decision the next year.

"Today, German judges comprise below 10 per cent in the organisation. It is completely international," he added. Currently there is no judge from the Middle East.

"But if we enlarge our activities here, we will have many," he said.
Opening up a branch in Singapore some years ago changed the way things were done by the Red Dot organisation. "This is a very interesting experience for us. We changed the concept behind it into a property development plan," said Zec.

"We run their space of 10,000 square metres but only a small part of it is dedicated to the Museum. The rest is used as a focus points for creative people. Being located in the banking district, during lunchtime, we match the creative people with the bankers. This combines the development of the building to the purpose of design and exhibition," said Dr Zec.

He has been coming to Dubai since the past three years. "I brought the ICSID board here and we had a board meeting in Dubai two and a half years ago.

"We also had the international design congress in Dubai and then we participated in Index. We have signed a deal to participate in Index for the next five years," he said. "For us, it will be interesting to be a part of this place."