Weekly use jumped from just over half of designers to nine in ten in a single year. The number that has not moved is the one everyone expected to: almost nobody is hiring fewer designers.
Twenty-seven hundred exhibitors at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 23 November, and three co-located shows that have quietly turned a construction fair into an urban development event.
Hard floors, glass walls and open plans photograph beautifully and sound terrible. Acoustic comfort is the last unfashionable part of interior design, and the cheapest to fix.
Thick walls, small openings, shaded courtyards and wind towers were not decorative. They were a cooling system, and a glass tower in the desert is a decision to pay for that work with electricity instead.
Handmade ceramics, woven blinds and vintage frames are displacing furniture bought to last three years. Designers say the grey rental box interior is finally over.
The September festival is beginning to reveal its citywide program, where districts, installations and small studios matter as much as headline landmarks.
