AlUla Design Designathon
About the Designathon
Where Creative Community Forges Tomorrow’s Icons
The AlUla Designathonis a three days, fast-paced on-site residency for 20 selected regional young creatives across three categories: Fashion Design, Product Design, and Graphic Design.
Welcoming students, young professionals, hobbyists, and traditional craftspeople alike, the program creates a space where diverse voices unite to nurture innovation rooted in heritage. Participants live and work in AlUla, mentored by leading experts, discovering new possibilities through creativity and mutual support. The Designathon takes place under the shared theme of “The Ingenuity of the Human Hand.” It is here, in the dialogue between tradition and experimentation, that creative communities forge tomorrow’s icons designs that honor heritage while shaping a sustainable future.
Applications open regionaly soon
The Ingenuity of the Human Hand
From the heart of the desert to the oasis of AlUla, the human hand has always been both tool and storyteller. It carved rose-gold sandstone into Nabataean facades, traced geometry into Najdi plaster, and guided caravans along the Silk Road exchanging forms, ideas, and memory. Through embroidery, carving, and trade, AlUla’s 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 Designathon is open to regional
applicants across three creative pillars:
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Application Details
The AlUla Designathon offers a dynamic program for 20 emerging designers to spark creativity, develop new skills, and produce inspiring work. Over three vibrant days in AlUla, participants will prototype their projects while engaging in hands-on workshops, 1:1 coaching sessions, mentoring with international design professionals, a Demo Day, and more. Participants will travel with a community of design lovers, be inspired by AlUla’s breathtaking context, and take part in a design-led program that blends creation, learning, and cultural discovery. The program also offers the opportunity to visit AlUla’s heritage sites with local experts. Throughout the event, participants will access specialized workshops to prototype their ideas and receive personal guidance from world-class mentors. Each selected participant (among the 20 shortlisted designers) will pay a SAR 1,500 participation fee, which covers flights, local transportation, and accommodation offering an all-inclusive experience that blends creativity, collaboration, and cultural immersion in the heart of AlUla.
Each applicant is required to pay a SAR 50 application fee.
Each selected candidates will pay SAR1500 to take part to the 3 days program.
Application Criteria
Relevance to Theme & Inspiration
- Designs must reflect the shared theme: “The Ingenuity of the Human Hand.”
Creativity
and innovation.
Feasability
potential within the resources and materials
provided.
Sustainability
practices and respect for AlUla’s delicate
environment
Enrollment & Participation
- Enrollment fee: the 20 selected
designers will pay 1,500 SAR (nonrefundable). Payment confirms your
place in the Designathon in AlUla. - Travel arrangements: Economy class flights sponsored by the
Designathon organizers. - Ground transportation: Airport
pick-up and drop-off at AlUla
International Airport, plus transfers
between hotel, venue, and official
program activities. - Accommodation: 5 days / 4 nights
at Cloud7 AlUla (or equivalent),
including daily breakfast. - Hospitality in AlUla: Group
transportation and on-site support
during the 3-day program. - Cultural immersion: Guided
heritage tours (Hegra, Dadan,
Ikmah/Old Town), including
transportation
Fashion Design
Product Design
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