Dubai-Based Alserkal Partners With Design Miami With The Aim To Transform The MENA's Collectible Design Landscape
The partnership will see the two entities work together to develop a platform for collectible design specific to the Middle East, which will include a flagship event in Dubai, as well as year-round programming.
Dubai-based cultural enterprise Alserkal has partnered with Design Miami, a global collectible design fair founded in the US, to bring the event to the Middle East in 2027.
Founded by Emirati entrepreneur Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal in 2007, Alserkal is best known for being the organization behind Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue, which is today one of the region’s leading destinations for contemporary art and community engagement. Alserkal has since grown to include the Alserkal Arts Foundation and Alserkal Advisory, and thereby become a key player in shaping contemporary culture and advancing the creative economy across the MENASA region and beyond.
Meanwhile, Design Miami, which was founded by American entrepreneur Craig Robins and led by Chairman Jesse Lee and CEO Jen Roberts, has been staging its namesake fair since 2005. It has also been running a Paris edition since 2023, alongside a host of regional experiences under the Design Miami.In Situ banner. Each edition of Design Miami brings together leading galleries from around the world, presenting a tightly curated selection of 20th- and 21st-century furniture, lighting, and objets d’art, as well as collaborative projects with globally renowned brands.
In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Alserkal declared that his entity’s partnership with Design Miami has the potential to “change entirely” the landscape of collectible design in the region. “This is the first private-private initiative of this kind in the region, and it follows a number of partnerships across the region that have come to life with governmental support and through diplomatic efforts,” Alserkal added. “The exchange of regional and international [know-how] is vital to how we see the initiative evolving: on one hand, we can bring international collectors to the region, while spotlighting our finest local talent, who are subsequently able to occupy a global stage. Most importantly, these exchanges are not just bilateral, because we are triangulating between Dubai, Miami, and Paris, which opens enormous possibilities of visibility and exchange.”
The partnership between Design Miami and Alserkal will see the two entities work together to develop a platform for collectible design specific to the Middle East, which will include a flagship event in Dubai, as well as year-round programming. Vilma Jurkute, Executive Director of Alserkal, told Inc. Arabia that this collaboration is the result of a shared interest in building a sustainable ecosystem for collectible design in the region that benefits all stakeholders, including designers, gallerists, entrepreneurs, buyers, and collectors.
“Alserkal is known for the delivery of our public promise and transcending the traditional boundaries between different disciplines,” Jurkute explained. “Everything we do is grounded in the practice of care and responsibility to the multidisciplinary practitioners we work with. Ultimately, our collective goal is to connect local and global practitioners and ensure the program reflects the region’s creative narrative, while linking meaningfully to the international design world. Our work will be shaped by regional perspectives through a collaborative process that is informed by credible research and thoughtful dialogue. It will not only resonate with our regional audiences, but it will also strengthen the regional ecosystem for design.”
Jen Roberts, CEO of Design Miami, with Vilma Jurkute, Executive Director of Alserkal.
It’s worth noting that this new endeavor is in line with the goals that Alserkal has set for itself as an entity. “We have never wavered from our initial vision: to provide fundamental infrastructure and essential platforms for the region’s arts and culture scene, and to enable the development of creative industries,” Alserkal pointed out. “Our mission has always been to build a robust cultural ecosystem that has global weight. Looking at the region through the lens of Alserkal, there are multiple proof points that indicate how much the ecosystem, here in the UAE and across the region, has evolved; there are many achievements of which we are collectively very proud. At Alserkal Avenue, our footprint has more than doubled from 2008 to 2024. At our non-profit, Alserkal Arts Foundation, we have hosted nearly 60 residents and commissioned nearly 20 public artworks for our own public realm, excluding the works we have ushered to life as part of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority’s Dubai Public Art project. And the fact that there is enough momentum and activity in the cultural sector to warrant a homegrown cultural consultancy such as Alserkal Advisory is a testament to how much the region’s cultural scene has evolved over the past 15 years. Alongside that, a partnership like the one with Design Miami deepens the region’s cultural influence on a global scale, by allowing for cultural exchange, and by providing a platform for the best of collectible design, attracting global collectors, and nurturing emerging local designers.”
For Jurkute, Alserkal’s growth trajectory is inseparable from the city it was born in, and its collaboration with Design Miami is but a case in point. “You cannot produce culture in isolation,” she noted. “Alserkal has grown together with the city of Dubai, which, in its own right, has grown to become a global hub for tourism, finance, and, today, ideas and community. Our multi-year strategic partnership with Design Miami was informed and inspired by a number of factors. Dubai’s recognition as a UNESCO Creative City of Design, the UAE’s position as the region’s leading creative economy, and design’s significant contribution to Dubai’s creative gross domestic product, made this an obvious collaboration. Design Miami in Dubai will be grounded in our shared ethics of care, merit, rigor, and collectivism.”
The Alserkal-Design Miami collaboration thus bodes well for the future of the region’s arts and culture ecosystem, which, in recent years, has seen internationally renowned players in the domain like Art Basel and NOMAD launching localized versions of their platforms in the GCC. For others wanting to follow their lead and engage with the creative community here, Alserkal, for his part, offered this perspective. “The Gulf has become increasingly visible to the international cultural sector, thanks to a highly talented creative community, sustained cultural investment, and expanding institutional infrastructure,” he said. “As global attention shifts toward new cultural and economic centers, many organizations see the region as a place where significant creative voices are emerging and deserve greater spotlight. For those looking to grow their creative pursuits here, I would say that they should take advantage of the richness of talent that is available here in the UAE. The region’s creative practitioners, and especially the audiences, respond to programs that recognize their contributions, and engage them in a meaningful way.”
Pictured in the lead image is Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, founder, Alserkal, with Jesse Lee, Chairman, Design Miami. Images courtesy Mohamed Somji/SeeingThings Photography.
This article first appeared in the December 2025-January 2026 issue of Inc. Arabia. To read the full issue online, click here.
