Dubai
Dubai Design Week will return to Dubai Design District (d3) from 3-8 November 2026, marking the 12th edition of the region’s leading design festival. Held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the festival is presented in strategic partnership with d3, the global creative hub that is part of TECOM Group, and supported by Dubai Culture.
For more than a decade, Dubai Design Week has brought together designers, architects, creative practitioners and audiences from across the region and beyond. In 2026, the festival turns its attention to the role design can play in strengthening connection at a time when the ways we interact, work and communicate are being rapidly reshaped.
Across the programme, projects consider the experiences, encounters and relationships that form around design – from the spaces people gather in and the languages they use, to the objects, materials and systems that shape everyday life. This thinking runs through a multidisciplinary programme of exhibitions, commissions, installations, talks, workshops and public activations, spanning architecture, design, craft, technology and material experimentation.
The Middle East’s leading fair for high-quality contemporary design, Downtown Design returns to Dubai Design District (d3), 4-8 November. The headline event of Dubai Design Week, the fair will feature a dynamic line-up of globally recognised design brands alongside regional talent, immersive concepts and a complementary programme of engaging talks, networking events and creative experiences.
International participation spans luxury kitchen appliances, glassmaking and outdoor furniture, alongside design-led collaborations and collectible pieces. Regional initiatives will spotlight emerging UAE-based designers, furniture prototypes and interactive spatial experiences, while new exhibitors bring contemporary ceramics, sourcing and procurement, and furniture design to the fair.
Alongside returning and new exhibitors, the fair will feature immersive pop-ups, creative F&B concepts and engaging experiences. A dedicated Memphis Milano exhibition will celebrate the Memphis movement’s bold patterns and unconventional forms. Returning for a second edition, Buccellati will present a pop-up with British designer Luke Edward Hall, inspired by the mythology and symbolism of water. The annual Veuve Clicquot Lounge will feature a concept by British-Nigerian artist and designer Yinka Ilori, while Dubai-based design studio Etereo will create a new lounge exploring material, form and space.
Urban Commissions, Dubai Design Week’s annual design competition for the public realm, invites architects to explore how design can shape civic life. Each edition responds to a specific theme, examining its role in shaping experience, interaction and shared space.
For 2026, the competition explores Atmospheres, examining how light, temperature, sound, material and spatial design shape how we feel, move and connect. The theme looks beyond architecture as physical form to consider the emotional and sensory dimensions of the spaces we inhabit.
This year’s winning proposal, Three Gardens and a Room, is by NAO Architects, a Dubai-based architecture practice founded by architect Reem Nassour. Working across architecture, research and urban design, the studio explores the relationship between people, place and the narratives embedded within them. The proposal reimagines the garden through four architectural elements: the roof, mound, hearth and enclosure. Three interconnected gardens bring together foliage, shade, colour, materiality and filtered light, surrounding a central room for gathering, pausing and connecting.
Abwab, Dubai Design Week’s long-running commissioning programme, supports creative practitioners from West, Southeast and East Asia and Africa. In 2026, it evolves into a group exhibition under the theme In Other Words, bringing multiple practitioners together to explore language as something designed, experienced and continually reshaped.
Through signage, symbols, gestures and oral histories, the exhibition examines how meaning is communicated, remembered, translated and misread through visual, spatial and sonic design.
Throughout the week, Dubai Design District (d3) will become a platform for largescale installations and site-specific interventions, bringing experimental approaches to architecture, materials, technology and craft into the public realm.
International practices will bring diverse perspectives, from participatory public spaces and modular structures exploring light and shadow to CHATAI 2.0, a timber installation by Japan’s Nikken Sekkei and SOBOKUYA combining traditional craftsmanship with communal spaces.
Regional contributions include Palestinian-Turkish aestudio’s transformation of reclaimed concrete rubble into architectural forms; Indian practice ALTER’s interactive take on Ludo; and Bahrain’s Palm and Palazzo, exploring privacy and social connection through the traditional Bahraini home. Avid Learning ME and Dakhnii Diaries will explore pastoral communication through sound, material and interactive experiences.
Duette Studio returns with a new installation and its cultural platform, Duette+, while Emirati architect Rasha Saffarini will present Taqleem, reinterpreting traditional palm-tree trimming as a communal space rooted in Emirati craft and cultural memory.
Dubai Design Week will present a diverse programme of exhibitions and activations across d3, spanning architecture, craft, cultural research and technology. Highlights include Worlds Ahead: 25 Years of Design, Place and Impact in the Middle East by Woods Bagot, reflecting on 25 years in the region and the future of design; an exhibition by L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, exploring lost goldsmithing techniques from the Second Iron Age; and a showcase by Al Jalila Cultural Centre for Children celebrating ceramics and young creatives. The UAE Designer Exhibition, supported by Dubai Culture and shaped by 2026 Design Collaborator AlZaina Lootah, returns under the theme Inherited Futures, exploring how inherited materials, rituals and ways of making can inform contemporary design.
Pinterest joins Dubai Design Week for the first time, bringing digital inspiration into the physical world through collaborations with designers and artists. IQOS and Ouchhh Collective debut CURIOUS STUDIO, bringing regional creatives together to explore the intersection of culture, technology and creative practice. Ethr makes its Dubai debut with Desert Dweller, a contemporary interpretation of the Bedouin tent designed by architect Omar Darwish and curated by Shaheer Akbar. BMW Middle East also returns as Automotive Sponsor with an exclusive design-led activation.
Hosted in a dedicated Maker Space, Dubai Design Week’s workshops offer hands-on opportunities to explore new skills across design disciplines, led by practitioners and institutions including University of the Arts London, SAE University College, HKS Architects and Leica Camera, alongside independent makers and cultural organisations.
The Forum at Downtown Design returns with live talks and keynotes, featuring renowned interior architect and designer Tristan Auer and leading voices from the region’s design and creative industries. This year’s space is designed under the creative direction of architecture and interior studio BONE.
Dubai Design Week’s Marketplace (7-8 November) returns to d3 as a curated outdoor retail experience showcasing homegrown businesses and independent makers from the UAE and region. Featuring handmade homeware, jewellery, fashion and sustainable goods, the weekend programme also includes culinary experiences, children’s activities and live performances, celebrating creativity, craft and community.
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