North Africa brings the “Caravan” pavilion to the VIII Moscow Interior and Design Week

The VIII Moscow Interior and Design Week, scheduled for August 13 to 16, will welcome companies from North Africa, featuring their rich craft traditions, artistic schools, and contemporary design. Nearly 1,300 companies from around the globe will showcase their products across the exhibition, business program, and citywide events. The North African pavilion, organized by the Egyptian Exporters Association in collaboration with Cairo Design Week, presents design as a language of cultural exchange, alive and relevant today.

Visitors will navigate a winding route that retraces a caravan's journey across the desert, with sheer fabric panels falling from the ceiling, evoking the image of tents and dunes. The pavilion's design uses light, texture, material, and objects to convey a story without literal details. Furniture, woodwork, textiles, interior pieces, and complete contemporary schemes will be on display, with a focus on traditional techniques given new interpretations and the modernization of centuries-old skills.

Local materials, handwork, and cultural heritage are celebrated throughout the exhibit. Exhibitors include Lumberjack, Caja, Nuvelti, Georgette Antiques, Cleopatra Trading Co, Rosaline, International Textile Co. for Textile Industry, Artefacto, and others. Interior designer, multidisciplinary artist, and art historian Lyudmila Rozvodovskaya contributed to the pavilion's concept, drawing on her extensive knowledge of the East's artistic traditions.

The "Moscow - Cairo" project, a special initiative with Cairo Design Week, ties the region's cultural exchange into the Moscow Interior and Design Week's international format. The 2025 edition of the week also featured the China International Furniture Fair in Shanghai. The business program includes contributions from Egypt's design scene, represented by Cairo Design Week founder Hisham Mahdy and DABS Egypt architect Hasan Fikry.

Over 200 speakers from Belarus, Egypt, India, Turkey, the UAE, and Uzbekistan will participate in the event, highlighting the ongoing dialogue between ancient trade routes and modern design.