Dubai Design Week has unveiled its 2026 programme, with installations drawing on Emirati palm craft, traditional Japanese woodwork and the reuse of concrete rubble.
The event will be held at Dubai Design District from November 3 to 8, bringing together exhibitions, public installations, talks and workshops. Downtown Design, its contemporary design fair, will take place from November 4 to 8.
Abwab, the event's commissioning programme, will move from individual pavilions to a group exhibition. Called In Other Words, it will bring several practitioners together to explore how people communicate through gestures, signage, symbols, oral histories, and spoken and written language.
Gardens and outdoor installations
Dubai-based practice Nao Architects, founded by architect Reem Nassour, has won this year’s Urban Commissions competition with Three Gardens and a Room.
The annual competition focuses on design for public spaces. Responding to this year’s theme, Atmospheres, Nassour’s proposal uses vegetation, colour, shade and filtered light to create three distinct gardens around a shared central space. The arrangement forms a room between the gardens where visitors can gather.
Elsewhere, Emirati architect Rasha Saffarini’s Taqleem will draw on the traditional practice of palm-tree trimming to create a communal space. Palestinian-Turkish practice aestudio will use reclaimed concrete rubble to make new architectural forms in InBetween What Was and What Will Be.
Japanese firms Nikken Sekkei and Sobokuya will return with Chatai 2.0, an expanded timber structure combining traditional craftsmanship with spaces for gathering and collaborative craft. Their Japanese teahouse was among last year’s installations.
Other installations will draw on games and domestic life. Indian practice Alter’s Playing Field will turn Ludo into a space for shared play, while Bahrain’s Palm and Palazzo will explore the balance between privacy and social connection in the traditional Bahraini home through Bayn.
UAE designers and craft
The UAE Designer Exhibition will return under the theme Inherited Futures, with architect and designer AlZaina Lootah as this year’s design collaborator. Supported by Dubai Culture, it will bring together UAE-based designers exploring how inherited materials, rituals and technologies can inform contemporary design.
Craft will also feature in an exhibition by L’Ecole, School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, presenting experimental archaeological research into lost goldsmithing techniques from the Second Iron Age. Al Jalila Cultural Centre for Children will return with an exhibition of ceramics by young practitioners.
Downtown Design and public programme
Downtown Design will showcase work developed through UAE training and mentorship programmes, including Tashkeel’s Tanween Design Programme and Abu Dhabi’s Athath Fellowship. The latter’s 2026 cohort will present furniture prototypes developed for the market.
Carpet and textile specialist Iwan Maktabi will present new work by UAE-based designers Nadine Kanso and Omar Al Gurg. Kanso’s designs draw on Arabic calligraphy and symbols of the UAE, while Al Gurg’s reflect memories of the traditional majlis.
An exhibition dedicated to Memphis Milano will explore the design movement’s graphic patterns, unconventional forms and continuing influence. British-Nigerian artist and designer Yinka Ilori will create the fair’s Veuve Clicquot lounge.
Alongside the displays, interior architect and designer Tristan Auer will be a keynote speaker at the fair’s Forum in a space designed by architecture and interiors studio Bone.
The wider festival’s workshops will take place at a dedicated Maker Space, with sessions led by practitioners from institutions including the University of the Arts London and SAE University College. The programme is open to participants of all ages and experience levels.
The outdoor Marketplace will be held on November 7 and 8, bringing together independent makers selling homeware, jewellery, fashion and handcrafted goods, alongside children’s activities and live performances.