British Council announces Young Design Entrepreneur

Rami Farook Rahimtulla is founder and director of Traffic, a 7,000 sq ft. design store, gallery, and studio in Al Barsha, which is used as a venue to exhibit design in a nonconventional way, as well as hosting lectures, workshops, and screenings.

Additionally, there is a reference library for designers, and a book shop cafe is currently being developed. The multidisciplined studio specialises in interior architecture, product design, visual communication, and interactive media.

"It is an honour to represent the UAE on a global scale, and I look forward to networking and collaborating with the UK's design entrepreneurs, manufacturers, and educators,"

said Rami Farook Rahimtulla.

The British Council's International Young Design Entrepreneur is awarded in partnership with 100% Design, the world's most important contemporary interior design exhibition presenting the latest in furniture, lighting and accessories, and the UK's premier contemporary interiors event for the contract market.

Rami Farook Rahimtulla will join 8 other international finalists from India, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Taiwan, Indonesia, Taipei, and Turkey for an all-expense-paid trip to the UK in mid-September 2009 to compete for the international title. As with previous years, the 2009 programme will be developed with UK partners, and will take the finalists to London, Glasgow and Belfast to meet leaders of the UK design sector.

The prize will comprise visits to designers, design-lead retailers and manufacturers, and institutions active in the procurement of design and architecture; the Design Council, the Design Museum, the University of the Arts London (Enterprise Centres), The Lighthouse (Scotland's national centre for architecture and design), the Glasgow School of Art, and various successful design firms (including Timorous Beasties, SCP, and a private master-class with leading design entrepreneur - previously Sir Terence Conran, and Tom Dixon). The International winner of the IYDE Award 2009 will also receive GBP 5,000.00 project grant to partner and develop business links with the UK.


Daniel Camara, IYDE Award Jury Member for UAE Competition, and Partner at Pink Tank, commented: "Rami is an outstanding example of a pioneering entrepreneur in design. His success with the Traffic brand has changed the way people perceive design in the UAE. He understands the sector, has moved very fast and has a great instinct for the business. Rami works extremely well in cooperation with international and regional designers, and above all enjoys what he is doing."

Paul Sellers, Country Director, British Council added: "Rami Farook Rahimtulla's application for the IYDE Award for UAE was extremely strong, demonstrating a good entrepreneurial track record along with considerable business acumen and in-depth knowledge of the design field. Rami's established projects together with his exciting plans give him a good portfolio to present in the UK, and his impressive networking skills promise great things to come for UAE-UK collaboration."

George Katodrytis, Associate Professor in Architecture, and Director of Scholarship and Outreach at the School of Architecture & Design of the American University of Sharjah, UAE, commented: "Rami combines an entrepreneurial inventiveness and a great understanding of design that makes him a clear leader in his field. He already has a proven record of success and his novel ideas and initiatives have established new trends in the UAE design scene. For the first time, locally designed furniture will be put into production using existing resources in the UAE. Rami has the ability to develop and adapt new ideas as well as find talents and collaborators to participate in such endeavours."

The UAE has a rich record in various International Young Creative Entrepreneur (IYCE) awards, with competent participation of successful entrepreneurs from the Fashion (Rabia Z. - UAE winner of the IYFE in 2007), the Visual Arts (Khalil AbdulWahid - UAE winner of the IYVAE in 2008) and the Publishing (Suhaila Al-Awadhi - UAE winner of the IYPE in 2009) industries.

IYDE is one of a range of International Young Creative Entrepreneur (IYCE) awards, designed by the British Council to celebrate the achievements of young entrepreneurs across the creative industries, and make a significant contribution to their ability to access international markets. IYCE includes recognition schemes for entrepreneurship in Fashion, Communications, Screen, Performing Arts, Music, Interactive, Visual Arts and Publishing.