A few highlights:

• 50 design galleries and studios exhibiting modern and contemporary design: the largest number of exhibitors to date, with over 20 from the UAE.
• Headline-grabbing Middle Eastern premieres of highly-collectible contemporary creations from best-in-class international designers. For example: ‘Metamorphosis’ bronze collection by pioneering French designer and Maître d’Art Pierre Bonnefille (Maître d’Art); the sparkling, over-sized ‘Flying Chair’ light installation by French sculptress Geraldine Gonzales, her most ambitious piece to date the unique; ‘Walking’ free-standing screen-scuplture by Irish designer Niamh Barry made of solid bronze inlaid with opaque glass and LED lights.
• From the region, premieres abound including: Lebanese jewellery designer turned lighting designer Marie Munier’s ‘Spirale II’, a hand-crafted brass and LED lighting sculpture (edition of 10); leading Emirati designer Aljoud Lootah’s hotly-anticipated first ceramic collection; a series of table innovatively combining wood and resin by emerging design duo Tarek Hreish and Farah Kayyal of Aperçu Designs, Jordan; and, new organic form-inspired wall pieces by Irish-born Dubai-based designer maker, Michael Rice.
• ‘Britain Take Shape’, an exhibition of British contemporary design featuring the work of 10 pioneers of British design, hosted by Dubai Culture and tying into the UK-UAE Year of Creative Collaboration. All shown for the first time in the UAE.
• The most extensive talks and workshop programme to date, featuring more than 22 speakers across 18 differing nationalities, as part of the fair’s ongoing advocacy of art and design in the city and region at large.
• For the first time this year, the programme moves outside of the fair’s walls with an offsite talks programme at the new Etihad Museum and digital radio that will be broadcast live daily from the fair.