With the aim of providing a platform for the local creative community, the UAE Designer Exhibition primarily focuses on presenting emerging talent and young practitioners with opportunities to break into the region’s market, launch new works, gain visibility, receive audience feedback for further development, and generate potential commercial leads and avenues for collaboration.

Encouraging designers and studios to explore materiality and form, as well as incorporate technology and today’s fabrication processes, the submitted works should be durable, feasible to produce, influenced by cultural and regional contexts, and in keeping with the Downtown Design fair’s mandate of high-quality, contemporary design.

Contributing to building a diverse local creative scene, designers, makers, and independent studios based in the UAE and producing work locally can apply to participate in the 2026 iteration of the UAE Designer Exhibition and have their works showcased to a vast audience of B2B and B2C visitors at Downtown Design, 4-8 November, including opportunities for mentorship with globally renowned profiles of the creative industry, as well as opportunity for participation in showcases taking place internationally.

To apply or learn more about the application process, please click here.