AlUla Design Award
About the Award
Where Creative Community Forges Tomorrow’s Icons
In its fourth edition, the AlUla Design
Award invites designers from around
the world to take part in an open call
celebrating “The Ingenuity of the
Human Hand” across two tracks:
Fashion Design and Product Design.
This year’s theme honors the timeless
handicraft that has shaped AlUla’s
heritage from carved stone and
intricate plasterwork to vibrant textiles and looks ahead to how these tradition s
can inspire bold, contemporary design.
The Award calls on established
designers to design the future of
heritage, bridging AlUla’s profound
past with innovative visions for
tomorrow. Each category winner receives a SAR 30,000 prize production and distribution of their design through the AlUla Boutique, and an invitation to come to AlUla, where leading experts and institutions develop groundbreaking projects in art and design.
Applications open worldwide from
17th of October to 28th of November.
The Ingenuity of the Human Hand
From the desert mountains of Hijaz to the oasis of AlUla, through 200,000 years of human history, the human hand has been both tool and storyteller. It made hand-axe’s and other functional tools in Palaeolithic times, carved colossal statues and intricate motifs, sculptures and inscriptions from the rocks during the Dadanite and Nabataean eras when camel caravans were guided along the Incense Road facilitating the exchange of forms, ideas, and memory. Through decorative ceramics, embroidery, carving, and trade, AlUla’s ancient crafts reveal a dialogue between people and place, necessity and imagination, heritage and the future.
This year’s theme, “The Ingenuity of the Human Hand,” invites designers to extend that dialogue through product and fashion design, treating AlUla as collaborator studio, library, and stage. We seek material intelligence and accountability: designs that honor local know-how while exploring new tools such as 3D printing and digital prototyping.
We welcome works that weave continuity with departure precise yet porous, rooted yet open. Designs where ornament becomes information, geometry an ethic, and fabrication a language. Hands remembering, and hands anticipating.
Who Can Apply
The Award is open to world wide
professional applicants across two
categories:
Application Details
What shortlisted and finalists Receive:
- Selected concepts will be exhibited during the AlUla Arts Festival, showcasing tomorrow’s ideas in dialogue with AlUla’s heritage.
- The selected concepts will be prototyped.
- Two finalists will be chosen to have their work commercialized in the AlUla Boutique. Each category winner will receive a prize of SAR 30,000, granted as a design fee for producing a limited commercial edition.
An application fee of SAR 200 applies to all applicants.
Application Criteria
Alignment with the Theme
- Submissions must clearly
respond to The Ingenuity of
the Human Hand. - Must demonstrate a
meaningful connection to
AlUla’s natural, cultural, or
historical context.
Originality
- Submitted designs must be
original, unpublished, and
not previously produced or
commercially released. - Should present fresh,
innovative thinking and push
creative boundaries.
Quality of Design Execution
- Excellence in form, function,
and presentation. - Clear, professional
documentation: drawings,
renders, models, and written
concept description.
Feasibility of Production
- Technical viability: Must
demonstrate realistic
production using approved
materials and prototyping
techniques; design must be
safe and scalable. - Prototype budget: The
prototype must be produced
within a maximum budget of
SAR 1,500. - Unit cost (commercialization
for the 2 finalists): Must not
exceed SAR 400 per unit
including packaging (for finalists selected for
commercialization). - Weight limit: Maximum total
weight 5 kg. - Size limit: Maximum footprint
1 m × 1 m; no single
dimension may exceed 1 m.
Sustainability & Responsibility
- Projects must integrate ecoconscious practices.
- Ethical and cultural
considerations: designs must
not appropriate cultural
symbols without context or
respect, nor promote
offensive, discriminatory, or
unethical content.
Enrollment & Participation Terms
- Finalists must be available to
attend the Award Ceremony
on 23th of January 2026. - Participants grant AlUla the
right to exhibit their work if
selected. - Finalists grant AlUla rights to
commercialize their work for
limited editions. - RCU will have the right to
produce one single series of
the selected design.
Designers retain full rights
beyond this and remain free
to produce and
commercialize their work
independently.
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Fashion Design
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Product Design
