11 - 14 FEBRUARY 2026
To be Announced Soon!
We look back at a year of recovery, relationship building and community, as 2022 marks the first full roster of Hi Design events post-pandemic.
This year has seen seismic change in the hospitality industry, as we slipped out from under the thumb of the pandemic (in some regions at least) and into a brave new world of altered travel habits and transformed working practices.
Design was and is playing catch up with changed mindsets. Because of this, in 2022 conversations were never more important; insight and inspiration never more vital; and community never more central to charting a path ahead, collectively. HI Design, then, had an even more crucial role to play in delivering all of these.
This year marked the first full roster of events across MEA, Europe and Asia – for the latter, our first HI Design in the region for three years.
It’s an important marker, because it signifies a recovery for the industry that – though uneven – is now global.
In March we descended on Jordan, for HI Design MEA. The resort-surrounding Dead Sea was an apt analogy for the event – buoyant with anticipation; a sector unfailingly still afloat.
Our first post-pandemic MEA gathering, we saw a high calibre of designer, owner and operator join with our terrific pool of suppliers, across three days of productive business and equally productive relationship building. In our seminar strand we charted the state of the industry; explored making concept reality with David T’Kint; and tackled the Saudi question, asking if the desert kingdom is truly a land of innovation and opportunity or just a mirage. For our panel, the sheer scale of ambition represented there makes it very much the former. We also delved in colour psychology with Judith van Vliet in a dynamic, spell-binding session that resonated with delegates and saw Vliet booked for a corporate presentation with one of our attending design studios shortly after; the ultimate seal of approval.
In Europe, having leaped the ‘first event back’ hurdle in 2021, there was scope to develop and evolve, with more speakers than ever before, more topics addressed and vibrant new formats to challenge and stimulate – all with the breath-taking Balearic Sea as the backdrop.
We heard from doyens and disruptors alike, learning from PL Studio’s Sabrina Panizza that trends still matter; that innovation is do or die, from restaurant pioneer Afroditi Krassa; that design has the power to change our psychology, from best-selling author Professor Charles Spence; and, with Oliver Heath, we unpicked the lesser-known aspects of biophilic design. In our newly-introduced Hot Topics panel format, we careened into conversation on the big issues – from global politics and greenwashing to diversity and the metaverse. Back with a renewed sense of vigour, it was event that several delegates described at the time as ‘the best yet.’
Closing out 2022, we ventured to Malaysian Borneo, surrounded by cacophonous rainforest. For many, it was the first event attended since the region began grappling with travel restrictions and, more recently, their gradual removal. We recently released our top takeaways from the event, where China, sustainability, trust and disruptive design were all points of focus. You can read more here. There was much to enjoy beyond the meetings and seminars, of course, with our closing night fire performers on the beach creating what was described by one designer as a ‘memory they’ll keep for years.’ Here, portfolio director Sofia Khan spoke, in her closing words, of HI Design as a family and – with Asia back on the calendar – it’s a powerful milestone, representing a global series of events and a global community, now fully reunited.
But as we say goodbye to one year, we also look ahead to another. Join us for our first gathering of 2023 in Cairo for HI Design MEA (1 – 3 March) where we’ll be revealing how to ‘nail F&B design’ with a World’s Best Restaurant award-winning design duo; looking into a radical metaverse-centric future with a Dubai-based leader in the field; mapping the state of play for the region; and, of course, getting fiery with the hottest Hot Topics.
It will be an event not to be missed, in a city like no other.
For now, we raise a glass to you, our Hi Design community, in the hopes we delivered for you in 2022. And we cheers to 2023, when we hope we’ll be able to continue to, in Cairo, Marrakech and Bali. To a happy new year.
A consultant, journalist and events curator, specialising in design, travel and hospitality, Harry is our Seminar host asking all the right questions to deliver you insight, direction and inspiration.
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