Ladies, Wine & Design

Ladies, Dine &
a bit of Design
Dubai

A conversation series
started by Jessica Walsh

Hosted by Tanvi Malik and Samia Kallidis
for creatives in Dubai

Ladies, Dine & Design, the Dubai chapter of the LWD network, is an initiative to connect and empower women in creative industries. We are one of 200 cities around the world working towards fostering female creativity. Only a tiny percent of creative directors are women, and we want to help change this through peer to peer mentoring, portfolio reviews, and creative meet-ups. A salon night or informal event is held monthly, ranging in size and limited to as few as six creative ladies per session. We’ll dine and have casual conversations on a wide variety of topics relating to creativity, business, and life. If you’re a female professional, student or creative and would like to join, please do email us. It’s free and reservations are first come, first serve.

March 22nd, 4-5pm Communication and Creation: Round Table Discussion at Fully Booked

With each of the speakers coming from a different industry in the UAE, we will explore the individual and shared approaches or tools they use to communicate through their work.
Taking place at the Fully Booked Dubai Art Book Fair during Art Week, this roundtable discussion will focus on communication and questions that explore how art/design evoke empathy, how users connect with the creators' work, and so on.

March 23rd, 5-6pm Live Panel at Fully Booked: Why Do We Make What We Make?

We will be moderating a panel of incredible women from all over the world discussing how culture, language, situation, gender or experience plays a role in the translation of communication in cross-cultural art, design or published media at this year's Fully Booked Art Book Fair, hosted in Alserkal Avenue.

February 3rd, 11am Workshop Series: Brush Lettering with Hosanna Lee

We've teamed up with Hosanna Lee to bring you a 2-hour brush lettering workshop at the beautiful Rise Creek Harbor. We'll provide all the supplies, as well as some snacks, juices and good tunes. All you have to do is show up! Meet likeminded creative ladies, and learn watercolor lettering overlooking the beautiful Dubai skyline. See more details here.

April 24th, 5-7pm Live Panel x Fashion Revolution: How Do We Get Dressed

If sustainability is the future, why should the fashion industry be an exception? We have teamed up with Fashion Revolution for a compelling panel discussion exploring sustainability in the fashion industry, the challenges in different markets and how we can work together for a sustainable future. Hosted in Molecule restaurant, Dubai Design District.

August 13th, 6pm Women in the Kitchen

While having women in the kitchen is such a common stereotype, the food industry is still a male-dominated field. Four inspiring women come together to speak about nutrition, business and cooking on topics ranging from the Big Food industry, health and nutrition, entrepreneurship in Dubai, to the experience of working in a largely male kitchen environment. Join us at the beautiful space in Cosentino at Dubai Design District to get to know Justine Dampt of Encas, Nisha Primlani-Pugnet of NBARS, Dima Hamati of Inked, and Michelle Harvey who is working across businesses. Sign up here.

September 30th, 7pm Waterschool Screening

We have come together with Swarovski to invite you to a viewing of WATERSCHOOL, created in partnership with UCLA. The documentary follows the experiences of several young female students who live along six of the world’s major rivers and explores the topics of water stewardship and women's empowerment. Register by emailing olivia.tang@swarovski.com

November 27th, 6:30pm The Universe of Colour Science

Join us for an exclusive gathering led by
founder of the Gracious F,
Fatima Al Shirawi. Colour is not a philosophy, it is a revenue generating science. We'd like to invite you to explore the impact of colour in Self development, Design disciplines and corporate branding. Ms Fatima Al Shirwai is the leading colour consultant with a passion for helping people improve their everyday life through the science of colour.

Jessica Walsh started Ladies, Wine & Design in New York after doing a lot of thinking and reading on why there are so few women creative directors. She believes we can change that through mentorship and championing others' work. We couldn't agree more, and we also think it would be fun to meet other lady creatives, so we reached out to her and Ladies, Dine & Design Dubai was born.

Ad Age: What We Can Do About the Dearth of Female Creatives?
Fast co: Where are all the women Creative Directors?
3% Conference: Video archive from their annual conference

Numbers show that there's a very small percentage of women leading the creative industry. However, the people we could be most inspired by most are other talented ladies. Let's build a list of women we have admired, worked with, or had our eyes on! Email us if you want to nominate someone in or from Dubai for this list.