Serotonin – The Chemistry of Happiness by Sara Ricciardi Studio at Dubai Design Week 2026 – ©Creative Frame Story.

Design. It has been a testing year for the United Arab Emirates: the ongoing conflict, soaring fuel prices, and unpredictable geopolitics. Even so, the Gulf state is facing forward, with a creative, upbeat attitude. Until 8 November, Dubai Design Week 2026 takes over Dubai Design District (D3), marking the twelfth edition of the Middle East’s most influential design event. Your guide highlights the must-visit exhibitions and installations in town.

• RELATED STORIES: Read more about Dubai Design Week 2026 on Archipanic.

Downtown Design

Photo by Buccellati.

Downtown Design anchors Dubai Design Week as the region’s leading design fair, pairing globally recognised brands such as Gaggenau, Venini, Jaipu Rugs, Lee Broom and Porada. Buccellati present a pop-up with British designer Luke Edward Hall, inspired by the mythology and symbolism of water. Etereo creates a new lounge exploring material, form and space.

Memphis Milano – Photo by Downtown Design Week.

A dedicated Memphis Milano exhibition celebrates the Italian radical movement’s punchy patterns and unconventional forms. Dubai-based design studio The international lineup also features a lounge by Yinka Ilori for Veuve Clicquot, while Kohler collaborated with architect and designer Agata Kurzela.

Abdulla Abbas x Tanween by Tashkeel – Photo via IG, follow @tanweenbytashkeel.

Tashkeel unveils five designers’ work from its Tanween design programme, which brings traditional crafts and contemporary design together. Ayah Alkhatib turns discarded mussel shells and recycled glass into contemporary lighting. Abdulla Abbas draws on the traditional Emirati ritual of burning bukhoor for totemic, architectural objects.

Broken Threads by Kinda Ghannoum – Courtesy of the designer.

At the UAE Designer Exhibition, emerging talent takes on the theme Inherited Futures, examining the materials, rituals, industries and technologies that have shaped the country’s design. Memory and craft meet in Hind Al Shaali’s tufted poetries, while Kinda Ghannoum translates digital pixels into the ancient medium of carpet weaving, reinterpreting traditional Arabic calligraphy, ornamental motifs and pattern-making.

Urban Commission

NAO Architects at Dubai Design Week 2026 – Courtesy of the festival.

NAO Architects, a Dubai-based studio, won this year’s Urban Commission competition with Three Gardens and a Room. The installation rethinks the garden through four architectural elements: roof, mound, hearth and enclosure. Foliage, shade, colour, materiality and filtered light run through three interlinked gardens that surround a central room for gathering, pausing and connecting.

ABWAB 2026

Kanaka Raghavan at Dubai Design Week 2026 – Photo via Instagram, follow @creativedubai.

Abwab, Arabic for gate, champions designers from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. At Dubai Design Week 2026, it returns as a group show, In Other Words, exploring how language is communicated, interpreted and remembered. Varussi translates the woven language of Kashmiri carpet and Kani shawl into architecture. Grace Shieh blends papermaking, poetry and experimental writing, while Kanaka Raghavan challenges Latin typography as a universal default through letterforms, translucent textile layers and block-printing processes.

Urban installations

The Pleated Pavilion by Nordic Office Architects – Courtesy of Dubai Design Week.

Over thirty urban installations thrive in Dubai Design District. Nordic Office Architects craft The Pleated Pavilion, a public garden space that transforms palm-based materials into an immersive space for discovery, pause and connection. Folds of sculpted cladding wrap a small, planted alcove, accessible through narrow thresholds.

CHATAY 2.0 by Nikken Sekkei and Sobokuya – Courtesy of Sobokuya.

Nikken Sekkei and Sobokuya bring Japanese craftsmanship and culture together with CHATAY 2.0, three complementary spaces for making, cultural exchange and shared celebration. The CHATAI pavilion channels the craft through traditional wooden joinery. At MACHIKAN, visitors assemble a communal table with Tsunagi clamps and join in ikebana, tea ceremony and calligraphy. HANARE offers a photographic experience in traditional Japanese Haori.

Colour Collective, Sumaya Dabbagh x Jazeera Paint – Courtesy of Dubai Design Week.

Jazeera Paints presents Colour Collective, an immersive installation exploring the relationship between colour, light and architecture, in collaboration with Saudi architect Sumaya Dabbagh, founder of Dabbagh Architects.

In Between by ae studio – Courtesy of Dubai Design Week.

ae studio’s In Between: What Was and What Will Be sits in the gap between destruction and reconstruction, asking what can grow from what remains. Instead of closing space off, it breaks it up: separate cast elements, fractured geometries, openings, gaps and thresholds mark out a place of transition.

Playing Field by Alter – Courtesy of Dubai Design Week.

UAE design brand Alter reimagines Ludo, the classic board game, as a convivial urban playing field, with handmade tiles made from reclaimed stone quarry waste, construction waste and recycled cement. Visitors become pawns, the floor a board, and the installation explores how a familiar game can bring people together through shared play.

Taqleem by Rasha Saffarini – Courtesy of Dubai Design Week.

Rasha Saffarini’s Taqleem turns traditional palm-tree trimming into a communal space rooted in Emirati craft and cultural memory. Ethr Studio reinterprets the Bedouin tent as Desert Dweller, gathering a first-of-its-kind Arabic coffee bar, performances, curated furniture, collectible postcards, serving ware, retail and Bedouin-inspired trade objects.

Isola Design Group

No Ordinary Things exhibition by Isola Design Group at Dubai Design Week 2026 – ©Creative Frame Story.

Isola Design Group stages its largest edition to date, with a new platform, Designwhere, connecting visitors to designers, galleries, studios and independent creative spaces. No Ordinary Things at Isola Space celebrates contemporary craftsmanship. Sara Ricciardi’s monumental installation, Serotonin – The Chemistry of Happiness, brings inflatable, sinuous forms, vibrant colours and playful energy into the urban surroundings.

Worlds Unseen exhibition by Isola Design Group – ©Creative Frame Story.

At Marasi Bay, Isola, OMNIYAT and The Lana, Dorchester Collection, turn the waterfront promenade into a hub for creative exchange. At Worlds Unseen, raw natural materials converse with brutalist architecture and collectible design.

Marketplace

Marketplace 2026 – Courtesy of Dubai Design Week.

Marketplace, a curated outdoor retail experience, returns to D3 on 7–8 November during Dubai Design Week, showcasing homegrown businesses and independent makers from the UAE and the region. Handmade homeware, jewellery, fashion and sustainable goods share the weekend with culinary experiences, children’s activities and live performances.

Dubai Design Week 2026 is held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture).

Three Gardens and a Room by NAO Architects – Courtesy of Dubai Design Week.