From 5 to 9 November, Dubai Design Week transforms Dubai Design District (d3) into a vibrant hub of creativity, celebrating design and innovation across the region and beyond. As the city’s free, week-long festival, it features exhibitions, installations, talks and workshops that animate every corner of d3. At its core sits Downtown Design, the fair’s ticketed centerpiece and the region’s leading showcase of high-quality contemporary design — returning under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Together, the festival and the fair form a dynamic ecosystem where emerging talent and global names converge, reflecting how innovation, sustainability and culture intertwine in today’s design landscape.
KHAMSA rounded up for you some of the most captivating events and installations to explore this year at Dubai Design Week.
١. Tashkeel’s Tanween Design Programme 2025 Collection
At the centre of the UAE’s design narrative, Tashkeel unveils the Tanween Collection 2025, featuring nine emerging designers who have spent a year researching, experimenting, and crafting new materials rooted in place. The results are poetic yet practical: Lamah, Hessa Alghandi’s sculptural pendant carved from reclaimed palm wood; Oculus by Iraqi-British artist Sarah Al Dulaimi, turning abaya fabric into diffused light; and Al-Nawa Collection by Nasser Al Ghawi, where thousands of date stones and eco-resin celebrate the palm’s symbolism in Emirati life.
٢. Interlude: In Between Is Now by Annabelle Schneider
Presented by ArtKōrero and Therme Art, Interlude: In Between Is Now by Swiss-born, New York–based artist Annabelle Schneider offers a rare pause amid the fair’s sensory overload. The inflatable cocoon breathes with light, sound, and scent, inviting visitors to slow down and reconnect. Fusing art, architecture, and sound therapy, it embodies Therme Art’s vision of design for wellbeing : a reminder that the spaces we create shape our collective calm as much as our aesthetics.
٣. Jaeger-LeCoultre: Reverso Stories
Extending Dubai Design Week’s dialogue between heritage and innovation, Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils The Reverso Stories, an immersive pop-up celebrating nine decades of horological design. Open from 4 to 16 November at d3, the experience unfolds in four chapters : from Story of an Icon to Story of Craftsmanship, tracing the evolution of the Art Deco timepiece through archival models and contemporary creations. Visitors can discover a limited-edition Reverso produced exclusively for the Dubai showcase and explore Made of Makers™ collaborations where creativity meets precision: the Emirati architect Abdalla Almulla’s installation 30 Sunsets, Olivecoat’s illustrated Reverso webcomic, and Nina Métayer’s sculptural pastries at the 1931 Café.
٤. BMW Middle East x Bricklab: Ellipse Pavilion
Design meets motion in BMW Middle East’s Ellipse pavilion, created in collaboration with Jeddah-based architecture studio Bricklab. The aluminium-clad structure contrasts a raw desert-inspired exterior with a soft, sinuous interior echoing the craftsmanship of the BMW 7 Series. Inside, works by six regional artists including : Rania Elkalla, Rand Abdul Jabbar, and Talin Hazbar extend the dialogue between material precision and cultural storytelling. It’s an architectural reflection on movement, luxury, and regional identity.
“This year we have put together the Downtown Design 2025 fair experience as a human-centric place to discover, to evolve, and to connect.” Director Mette Degn-Christensen sums up the spirit of this edition.
٥. Bureau of Innovation at Editions
The new curatorial platform Bureau of Innovation (BOI) makes its international debut at Editions, the section of Downtown Design’s fair dedicated to limited-edition art and design. BOI presents a collection of finely crafted limited-edition pieces by Sophie Dries, Tom Fereday and Kym Ellery. Founded by Holly Lucas and Sam Henley, the platform positions itself at the intersection of exhibition, gallery and cultural salon — a space where design is reimagined not merely as decoration but as a lived, enduring experience. Through its participation in Editions at Downtown Design, BOI seeks to shift expectations, inviting visitors to engage with works meant to be inhabited, admired and placed at the heart of daily life.
Beyond individual showcases, Downtown Design 2025 unfolds as a landscape of collaboration, where heritage brands, avant-garde studios, and experimental collectives meet on common ground. From Kartell and Poltrona Frau unveiling new design dialogues to first-time participants like Roche Bobois and Stellar Works, the fair pulses with international flair. Across d3’s waterfront, visitors can explore immersive concepts such as Veuve Clicquot’s Solaire Lounge by Studio Marcel Poulain, Buccellati’s sculptural showcase by david/nicolas, and the Italian Trade Agency’s Made-in-Italy pavilion featuring over twenty design houses. Complementing these, the UAE Designer Exhibition and The Forum bring together global voices : from Tom Dixon to Marcel Wanders to reimagine how craft, calm, and cross-cultural exchange define the next era of design.
As the lights glow across d3’s waterfront, Downtown Design 2025 stands as a portrait of a region designing not just objects, but futures, thoughtful and beautifully made.
For more information about Dubai Design Week, click here.
