Dubai Design Week will return to Dubai Design District (d3) from November 4 to 9, with this year’s programme looking at ways of building more inclusive and connected communities.
The theme aligns with the UAE authorities' designation of 2025 as the Year of Community. A varied line-up is expected to include large-scale exhibitions, public discussions and workshops exploring how design can foster social cohesion and shared civic life.
This year marks a decade since Dubai Design Week was launched, and the event will be the biggest to date, with more venues added across d3, including the return of popular fixtures such as Downtown Design, Editions Art & Design and the UAE Designer Exhibition. The exhibition, supported by Dubai Culture, is being reformatted to highlight emerging talent.
Among the initiatives is Urban Commissions, an international design competition inviting architects and designers to reinterpret the courtyard as a public space.
Meanwhile, Abwab, the festival’s curated pavilion series, expands its geographic scope this year to include works from West, South and East Asia, as well as Africa. Presented under the theme In the Details, the pavilions will explore ornamentation and material culture through spatial design.
The 2025 d3 Architecture Exhibition, a collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects, will also be on site, with projects reflecting how architecture can support community wellbeing.
Editions, the region’s only fair dedicated to limited-edition design and collectable art, is also returning. It will feature works from 50 regional and international galleries and studios across mediums, including ceramics, photography and contemporary design.
The full programme – including keynote speakers, installations and featured designers – will be announced closer to the festival’s opening date.
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
