Highlights from Editions, Dubai Design Week’s New Fair

Staged within the 10th edition of Dubai Design Week (Nov 5-10, 2024), Editions, the Middle East’s first-ever fair dedicated to limited edition art and design, is holding its inaugural showcase alongside the well-established Downtown Design at the d3 Waterfront Terrace.  

With a line-up of over 50 regional and international design studios, galleries and collectives, Editions aims to cater to those searching for high-quality, collectible works, with prints, contemporary design, furniture, photography, ceramics and works on paper on offer from both well-known and emerging creative. Here are our 10 highlights from the show.

‘Infinite Majlis: A Möbius Strip’ by Kattan Design for 1971-Design Space

This large woven wooden ring designed by Kattan Design—headed by Dubai-based Syrian concept designer and architect Ahmad Kattan—was commissioned specially by the Sharjah-based gallery, inspired by the Emirati cultural practice of gathering round a fire pit. The choice to use an infinite Mobius strip, crafted from six sculpted pieces of yellow pine that seamlessly intertwine, echoes the endless exchange and cyclical nature of time, memory and heritage that a traditional Majlis embodies.

Kameh Chairs

Dubai-based brand Kameh showcased a series of 10 limited-edition chairs, integrating artisanal Japanese wood-burning techniques, envisioning what a forest might look like in a desert landscape. These hand- sculpted minimalist designs also highlight pressing environmental concerns, the loss of forests to wildfires worldwide, emphasizing the need to honor and preserve the natural world. The stark black chairs made from ash wood are also a nod to the ability of a forest to regenerate after a fire, becoming something new and beautiful once again.

‘Falaj Collection’ by Aljoud Lootah

Multidisciplinary Emirati designer Aljoud Lootah presented a new body of work celebrating the 10th anniversary of her d3-based studio. Rooted in her cultural heritage, her work features a rich palette of textures and materials, creating functional and timeless pieces. The collection consists of sofas and rippled glass and stone tables that mirror the colors of the UAE’s lush oases and stand as modern tributes, in soft greens and sandy tones. Each piece was designed as an expression of the organic curves, separations, and reconnections of the Falaj irrigation streams found in the region’s farmland oases.

‘Nain Objects’ by Nian Architects Studio for Blooker Gallery

‘Nain Objects’ by Nian Architects Studio (Delaram Bolourchi and Ali Kermanian) is a collection that reimagines minimalist industrial components into sophisticated timeless furniture pieces. The standout ‘Sunrise Chair’—a futuristic yet archaic high-backed chair—is inspired by the beauty of the rising sun, crafted from cherry-red lacquered wood and brass accents, evoking the arc of the sun and shades on the sky at sunset. The round seat cushion in black and white velvet latticed fabric from Paris’ Maison Pierre Frey designed by India Mahdavi adds a touch of contrast and sophistication to the otherwise minimalist piece. Complementary pieces such as the ‘Barbossa’ console—a sleek console in the same wood, held up by several straight rods of brass—or the ‘Chaplin’ side table inspired by industrial machinery, give a comprehensive look to the space.

‘Suelo Orfebre’ by Simón Ballen Botero for Enso Design

Enso Design, a collective of South American creatives, presented objects that blend storytelling with craftsmanship, rooted in the Andean territory’s natural materials. Colombian designer Simón Ballen Botero showcased ‘Suelo Orfebre,’ a series of hand-blown glass vessels created in collaboration with local communities in the mining region of Marmato, Caldas. The glass is imbued with shimmering mineral waste from the gold mining industry, as a beautiful yet somber dedication to the history of goldsmithing practices in the area, when Colombia’s gold mines were exploited by conquistadors for centuries.

Virginia Leonard for Taste Contemporary

New Zealand-based ceramic artist Virginia Leonard’s striking vessels are part intentional and part accidentally. Encrusted with lumps and spikes of resins, glazes and lusters, the large vases come in a riot of hues, with a painterly approach due to her artistic background. Leonard herself was left with scarring after a serious biking accident, and the language of the clay is an attempt to rid her body of trauma, drawing parallels between clay’s soft and clumpy form and the fragility of the human body.

‘Polaris’ table and sofas by Marine Bustros

Hand carved from natural oak wood, the ‘Polaris’ table by Lebanese designer Marine Bustros combines Levantine heritage and modern aesthetics displaying marquetry and recycled stained-glass inlays in the shape of birds, suns and stars. Lighting under the table allows the glass to glow, setting off the design, and the tables are modular to allow reconfiguration to personal taste.  A pair of beautiful sofas were also on show, with colorful paintings on the curved backs of natural landscapes.

Salt tables by Roxane Lahidji for Hestia Gallery

French designer Roxane Lahidji’s marbled salt material gives the look and feel of marble and stone, but is actually made entirely of sea salt and natural binders. Coloured with pigments and sealed with eco-resin, she creates tables that are easily believed to be marble, but more environmentally friendly, as there is plenty of leftover salt from desalination in major coastal cities. They’re also lighter to ship and don’t require sourcing stone from abroad.

‘Mistral’ table by Studio Bazazo

Inspired by the humid summer mists of the Mediterranean, Lebanese designer Studio Bazazo‘s ‘Mistral’ table captures the hazy red sunset glow in solid blocks of sculpted Travertino Rosso, featuring curved bodies supported by cylindrical columns. Linear gaps along the center of each piece creates a floating effect, drawing from the artistic innovation of 1970s Mediterranean architecture, such as the Palais Bulles, designed to captivate with its bold shapes and craftsmanship.

‘The Nonconformist Garden’ collection by Sema Topaloğlu

Presenting a series of works from ‘The Nonconformist Garden collection,’ Turkish designer and glass-worker Sema Topaloğlu has created a kaleidoscopic garden of glass flowers and plants, with a fantastical display full of whimsy. Put together in various arrangements and made in different sizes and scales, the pieces seem plucked straight out of a fairy wonderland, expertly crafted by hand.