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IFIA Magazine - Mar ch 2021 |

designed with circularity in mind to lead the Zealand, Japan, and as the Sales Director for
world into a sustainable industrial revolution. both Eastern and Western European regions.
A circular economy is a thoughtful and He returns to the Middle East, where he held
restorative process by which the materials the position of Audi Middle East Sales Director
and resources that make up a design are from 2011-2009, to lead the Audi brand in the
in use for as long as possible, whereby we region where he will directly head the Audi
extract the maximum value from them whilst business across 11 Middle East countries.
in use and recover and regenerate materials
at the end of each product life, closing the Dr. Carlos Montana
circle. Submissions can be revisions of existing Dr. Carlos Montana is an award-winning
products in the market with improvements designer and educator. He is currently a
made to one or all aspects of its lifecycle or an Founding Associate Professor of the Dubai
entirely new product considering circularity. Institute of Design and Innovation DIDI, the
No innovation in the design process is too first interdisciplinary design university in
small to make a large impact. Dubai, established in collaboration with MIT
and Parsons. As a professional designer, he has
Judges For 2020 worked with numerous companies designing
furniture, lighting, ceramic products, electric
Led by Hani Asfour appliances, exhibitions, jewelry, and graphics,
Hani Asfour is the dean of the Dubai Institute among others.
of Design and Innovation (DIDI). An MIT and
Harvard-trained architect with over 22 years Mark Stobbs
of experience, he was also the Founding Mark Stobbs is the Director of Programming
President of the Beirut Creative Cluster and and Outreach at the Dubai Design District. He
Founding Partner of Polypod, an award- has been instrumental in the development of
winning multidisciplinary design studio in d3 since its inception has been with the project
Beirut, Lebanon. He was recently named one almost since its launch. In his role, Mark
of the 45 most influential architects in MENA has developed and overseen international
by Middle East Architect Magazine. Hani projects which have seen designers from the
plays a key role in leading the judging panel region promoted on global design stages
discussions during the voting process and and are now principally directing industry-
steering the design debate with his valuable focused programming in the district. Prior to
experience and input. this, Mark led the Marketing and PR efforts
for the inaugural Downtown Design in 2013,
Carsten Bender and before that held the title of Publisher at
With over 18 years’ experience with Audi AG, leading Arab culture magazine Brownbook.
Carsten joins Audi Middle East as the Managing He spent 7 years at Wallpaper* magazine in
Director in the Middle East region. His career London, leading the creative solutions team
with the Four Rings has included achievements on various international brand projects prior
in the field as Sales Manager for Australia, New to coming to Dubai.

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