Holiday Gift Guide 2015: Custom Presents

From bespoke fragrances to personalized skateboards, products made especially for the people you're buying for

As much as you may want to shower your loved ones with gifts, the perfect present for each can be hard to find year after year. If you’re organized enough to be thinking about stocking up on holiday gifts already, ordering a customized item is a thoughtful way to make your gift extra special. From ceramic selfies to personalized skateboards, bespoke wallpaper to a fragrance …

Dubai Design Week: Aljoud Lootah’s Yaroof

An other-worldly geometric installation on the beach that references the area’s fishing heritage

In the middle of the hot sand at Dubai’s city beach, multidisciplinary designer Aljoud Lootha’s artwork “Yaroof” somehow manages to look both alien and totally at one with its surroundings. The Emirati designer has been involved in multiple projects that interpret traditional Emirati craftsmanship, using it as an inspiration for contemporary pieces. It’s not an unusual way of working—plenty of the designs at the recent …

Dubai Design Week: Abwab

An initiative at the fair that brings together creatives from six MENASA countries

The inaugural Dubai Design Week—on this week in the ever-changing Gulf city—is proof of how important design has become in the UAE, a nation supporting and expanding its creative industries with great fervor. The ambitious event features plenty of international work from big design names, but it’s the chance to see local designers from the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia) region that’s …