Dubai Design Week Shows How the City Slows Down to Create

It is easy to imagine Dubai as a world of glass towers and futuristic ambition. But step into Dubai Design District (d3) during Dubai Design Week 2025 (4–9 November), and you will see something different, slower, softer, and deeply human. SCALE sat down with Natasha Carella, the Director of Dubai Design Week, to understand what this year’s edition means for the city and for the people who build it. By Arya Nair

The first thing that catches your eye is not a skyscraper or a screen. It is a textile pavilion that moves with the wind. Stories of the Isle and the Inlet by Bahrain-based studio Maraj glows in the desert light, its mesh embroidered with delicate depictions of fish, reeds, and island plants. The piece is part architecture, part memory, telling the story of Nabih Saleh, a small Bahraini island caught between wetlands and industrial expansion.

This installation, the sole commission for Abwab 2025, sets the tone for the entire week. Abwab is the annually remodelled special commission and cornerstone of Dubai Design Week and this year they invited practitioners to respond to the theme In the Details, exploring Ornamentalism as an aesthetic language of meaning, symbolism and embedded knowledge that has influenced architecture, objects and textiles across cultures. The winning project is the Stories of the Isle and the Inlet by Maraj.

As Dubai Design Week’s Director Natasha Carella puts it, “Detail is meaning, and ornament is language. This turn towards intricacy signals a cultural shift where design is reclaiming emotional depth and reconnecting with the tactile, the imperfect, the human.”

This year, the festival, held under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and in partnership with Dubai Design District (d3) and Dubai Culture, gathers over 1,000 designers, architects, and creatives from more than 50 countries. Yet, at its heart, 2025 feels like a quiet rebellion against excess.

Here, design is not about scale. It is about intention, about creating, caring, and connecting.

Dubai Design Week unfolds across Dubai Design District (d3), the city’s creative ecosystem and home to studios, universities, and incubators such as in5 Design and the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation (DIDI). It is not just a venue but a year-round community that turns ideas into industry.

Amid the installations and fairs, Dubai Design Week also opens up space for learning and dialogue. The Forum at Downtown Design brings together global design icons such as Tom Dixon, Marcel Wanders, Lee Broom, and David Hicks for conversations on the future of craft and material innovation. The Forum extends this spirit of reflection, exploring how design can serve both human and environmental care. Meanwhile, in the Maker Space, workshops by institutions like MIT and University of the Arts London invite professionals and young creatives alike to experiment, make, and learn through doing.

The Soul: Design as Memory

Abwab, which means “doors” in Arabic, has always been the part of Dubai Design Week that opens conversations about identity, craft, and culture. But this year, it takes a more focused approach.

Maraj’s work uses ornament as storytelling, proving that decoration can hold deep meaning. The threads speak of craft traditions and of communities that once relied on the rhythm of tides and palm fronds. By collaborating with local artisans, embroiderers, and tailors, Maraj creates not just an artwork but a bridge between islanders and visitors, between the past and what remains.

“Ornament becomes a way of seeing,” Natasha Carella explains. “It teaches us to value precision, patience and the layered knowledge that comes from making.”

This idea of design as memory runs throughout the festival. Across Dubai Design District, more than 30 outdoor installations turn public spaces into places of reflection and encounter.

Installations such as #MAJLIS by Doha’s Boo Design Studio and Maryam AlHomaid, and The Space Within by the UAE’s ARDH Collective, bring that philosophy to life. Both reinterpret the idea of communal space, one through craft and dialogue, the other through sustainable materials made from desert sand and date seeds.

#MAJLIS reimagines the traditional Arab gathering space as a contemporary environment for storytelling, dialogue and cultural exchange. More than an architectural installation, it becomes a living platform where designers, artists and craftspeople share knowledge across disciplines, weaving personal experiences and cultural narratives into collective memory.

Boo Design Studio in collaboration with Maryam Al-Homaid, an interdisciplinary Artist and an Assistant Professor in VCUArts Qatar, the structure takes the form of a hashtag (#) which is a symbol of digital connectivity and global conversation. This design choice bridges the past and present, recalling the spoken exchanges of traditional majlis gatherings while acknowledging how communication has expanded into instantaneous worldwide networks. Crafted from glass and metal, the installation is etched with Arabic script inspired by the phrase Asfarat wa Anwarat, meaning “arrived with radiance and light.” As sunlight or artificial illumination interacts with the surface, the calligraphy comes alive in shifting shadows, filling the space with an atmosphere of warmth, movement and invitation.

Nikken Sekkei in collaboration with Sobokuya presents Chatai, a pop-up pavilion that introduces the essence of Japanese culture through design, craftsmanship and hospitality. The installation draws inspiration from two familiar typologies: the Chashitsu, or traditional tea room, and the Yatai, the casual street-side stall found in neighbourhoods across Japan. By combining these forms, Chatai creates a space where people can naturally gather and engage in meaningful interaction.

The idea of shared spaces take shape in the Urban Commission, an annual competition for architects and designers. This year’s winning project, When Does a Threshold Become a Courtyard? by Some Kind of Practice, revisits the Emirati housh, a traditional courtyard that forms organically from movement, airflow, and daily life.

“It is a reminder,” Carella says, “that urban life does not just happen inside buildings, but in the thresholds between them.”

Designlab Experience weaves traditional basket-making into sculpture, and DEOND Studio constructs a geometric rice-paper pavilion that shifts and breathes with the light.

Together, these works make Dubai Design District feel less like a design fair and more like a living city of ideas. Each piece is an invitation to pause, to gather, to remember.

The UAE Designer Exhibition, supported by Dubai Culture, continues this dialogue indoors, giving emerging creatives from Sharjah to Abu Dhabi a platform to blend heritage with modern form. This year’s edition also evolves into a mentorship-driven platform under the guidance of renowned designer Nada Debs, offering UAE-based talent direct access to global networks and expertise. It is design that remembers, and in doing so, reminds us of where we come from.

The Future: Design as Purpose

If Abwab speaks to heritage, the Global Grad Show, now known as Prototypes for Humanity, speaks to humanity’s next chapter. This annual showcase of student projects from over 100 universities brings together ideas that aim to solve real problems, from sustainable materials to healthcare access and social wellbeing.

One project reimagines cement using recycled construction waste to drastically reduce carbon emissions. Another introduces a low-cost diagnostic tool for communities without access to advanced healthcare systems.

The Market: Design as Lasting Value

In another corner of Dubai Design District, the atmosphere shifts from experimentation to craftsmanship. The city’s design fair, Downtown Design, returns to the Waterfront Terrace, bringing together global icons like Kartell, Poltrona Frau, Roche Bobois, Venini, and Stellar Works, alongside regional studios from Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

But the most compelling part of the fair is not the size or scale; it is the curation. This year’s fair, directed by Mette Degn-Christensen, is intentionally human in scale. It celebrates design with purpose, focusing on craft, material intelligence, and collaboration.

At Downtown Editions, the collectible design section, limited-edition works blur the line between art and function. Here, design becomes an investment in meaning, not just ownership.

There is a marble light that glows like moonlight, designed to mirror the lunar phase as seen from your location. A series of sculptural tables reveal the handwork behind their polished surfaces. The Bureau of Innovation, making its global debut, presents furniture that could become tomorrow’s classics, pieces that are innovative but timeless.

Nearby, Editions Art & Design offers another layer of reflection, merging art and collectible design through prints, ceramics, photography, and works on paper. From Japanese art by Galerie Geek Art to the AI-driven works of Dubai-based Ila Colombo, the exhibition shows how digital and handmade can coexist beautifully. The showcase reflects a growing global appetite for collectible design, where art, functionality, and storytelling merge into objects of enduring value.

Even luxury, often seen as distant from purpose, finds meaning this year. The Solaire Lounge by Veuve Clicquot and the Buccellati pop-up designed by david/nicolas show how brands are embracing design as an act of storytelling, using light, texture, and craft to create moments of connection rather than spectacle.

At its best, the fair reminds us that good design is not just bought; it is kept. It is not disposable; it is durable, both in form and in feeling.

Throughout d3, other exhibitions extend the dialogue between design, culture, and craftsmanship. The d3 Architecture Exhibition, presented in collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), explores how communities can be designed and reimagined. At L’ÉCOLE Middle East by Van Cleef & Arpels, jewelry becomes a bridge between cultures, while Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso installation connects design and time through immersive storytelling. Projects like Bootleg Griot, an independent library platform, celebrate voices of African descent, emphasizing design’s role in accessibility and cultural exchange.

A Conversation with the Curator

We sat down with Natasha Carella, the Director of Dubai Design Week, to understand what this year’s edition means for the city and for the people who build it.

“This year, we wanted the design to be felt, not just seen,” she says. “Every installation, from Abwab’s textile pavilion to the Urban Commission’s courtyard, invites people to pause, reflect, or gather. Care is our method. Whether we are looking at materials, the environment, or each other, the goal is to create connection.”

On the balance between global and local, she says:
“The balance between local grounding and global exchange is the essence of Dubai Design Week. We are a bridge, amplifying voices from West, South and East Asia, and Africa, while inviting international collaboration. The d3 Architecture Exhibition with RIBA, for example, puts GCC projects side by side with award-winning global works. It shows how creative languages can coexist without losing their roots.”

And when asked about the legacy she hopes this edition will leave behind, her answer is both simple and profound:
“If visitors leave with a new awareness of design as something deeply human that shapes how we live, gather, and care for one another, then we have succeeded. Dubai’s creative pulse is about synthesis. Tradition and innovation meet here naturally. The legacy I want is one of knowledge shared, ideas exchanged, and communities formed.”

Why It Matters

As the week draws to a close, Dubai Design Week opens its doors even wider. During the closing weekend, the Dubai Design Week Marketplace transforms d3 into a lively open-air bazaar celebrating homegrown creativity. Local makers, artisans, and independent brands come together to share handmade goods, sustainable design pieces, and regional flavors. With live music and family-friendly workshops, it turns design into a communal experience, blurring the line between creator and visitor.

In a city known for its speed, Dubai Design Week 2025 invites us to pause, to listen, to look, and to feel. It celebrates the details: a stitch in a textile, the curve of a courtyard, the weight of a handcrafted object, the empathy behind a student’s prototype.

Together, these stories form a portrait of design as a living language, one that speaks of memory, purpose, and value.

Dubai is still building the future. But this year, its designers remind us that the things worth keeping are not always the biggest or the brightest. They are the ones made with care.

And maybe that is the real story, that in a city of sun and sand and shimmering glass, it is the smallest and most human details that will make it all endure.