NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026: Terminal 1, Revisited

There are few fair venues in the world with a story of their own to tell. Terminal 1 of the Old Abu Dhabi Airport — designed by Paul Andreu, opened in 1982, and long celebrated as a landmark of Arabian modernism — is one of them. From 18 to 22 November 2026, NOMAD, the travelling showcase for collectible design and contemporary art, returns to the former airport for its second Abu Dhabi edition, presented in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi). Building on the success of its debut, the fair expands further into the building, bringing together over 50 exhibitors across collectible design, contemporary art, jewellery and craft.

NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2025. Terminal 1, Old Abu Dhabi Airport, Photo by Nikita Berezhnoy, Courtesy of NOMAD

“Last year was about discovering the airport,” says NOMAD co-founder and director Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte. “This year, we have a better understanding of this remarkable building so we can be more ambitious with it. What interests me is not making NOMAD bigger for the sake of it, but making it more layered, with commissions, architecture and site-specific interventions that connect with the history and material culture of the region.”

Terminal 1, Revisited

For NOMAD, location comes first. Rather than reproducing a conventional fair layout, each edition responds to its surrounding architecture, culture and community — and at Terminal 1, the former airport's private gates, departure halls and corridors become distinct settings in themselves. Four private gates are transformed into large-scale presentations by leading international exhibitors A2Z, Nilufar, Gallery FUMI and Galerie Gastou, each creating a unique environment within its gate. In the Departure Hall, a special project by YANGWANG developed with Dubai-based artist and designer Ibrahim Zaki brings his calligraphy and typography into conversation with automotive design, featuring the YANGWANG U9, the electric hypercar that set a world production-car speed record of 496.22 km/h in September 2025.

NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2025. DEPARTURES powered by Etihad Airways, Photo by Ivan Erofeev, Courtesy of NOMAD

NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2025. Gallery FUMI, Photo by Nikita Berezhnoy, Courtesy of NOMAD

Commissions and New Voices

Among the edition's major commissions is a monumental 150-square-metre installation by Nader Gammas, the Syrian American lighting designer based between Boston and Dubai, whose practice combines the latest illumination technology with artisanal craft — and who was one of the eight makers presented by Bottega Veneta at the inaugural Abu Dhabi edition in 2025. The Departure Hall also hosts an expanded institutional programme: the Petra Project presents a large-scale exhibition with scenography by Jordanian architect Sahel Alhiyari, winner of the 2026 IMA Design Award, while a new initiative between Paris's Institut du Monde Arabe and Abu Dhabi's House of Artisans launches an annual programme dedicated to the dialogue between contemporary design and Emirati craftsmanship. Its inaugural commission pairs Abdel El Tayeb, recipient of the 2024 IMA Design Award, with Emirati master artisans on a large-scale site-specific installation for the fair. “Craft is a living practice,” says Bellavance-Lecompte. “Something new can emerge when makers from different places work together.”

Nader Gammas, Vessels Cabinet, 2026. Courtesy of Gallery Gradient and NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026

Materials, Makers and Exchange

Across Terminal 1, inherited techniques are carried into contemporary practice: bronze casting and silversmithing, lacquer, textiles and mother-of-pearl. Mumbai-based ÆQUŌ, joining NOMAD for the first time, works between contemporary design and India's material traditions — repoussé metalwork, lost-wax casting, embroidery, shellac and mother-of-pearl — in works by Linde Freya Tangelder, Frédéric Imbert, Santa Gaia Pilens and Inderjeet Sandhu. Maison Intègre, also making its debut, presents bronze furniture and objects produced in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, using the ancestral lost-wax technique, alongside two monumental tapestries from its Tree of Life series. From Seoul, Gallery Vein brings together generations of Korean artists and makers — bandaji furniture, ottchil lacquer and mother-of-pearl — including master artisan Kangyong Park and Samyong Hwang; from Warsaw, Craftica Gallery presents a new generation of Polish collectible design in wood, brass, clay, straw marquetry and silver. In the Departure Hall, Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council collaborates with SUPER LOOP on the Al Taif Collection – Al Thini Edition, five pieces of furniture and functional design inspired by Emirati Talli weaving, while Gem Alf turns to silver and the rituals that surround it — serving, offering, gathering and sharing.

SUPER LOOP, L02 Table Lamp, 2026. Courtesy of SUPER LOOP and NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026

Hwang Samyong, A Droplet, 2020, FRP, mother of pearl. Courtesy of Vein and NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026

Timothée Chambovet for Maison Intègre, Kassena Console, 2026. Courtesy of Maison Intègre and NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026

Frédéric Imbert, Waxed Coffee Table, 2025. Courtesy of ÆQUŌ and NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026

Art, Collectible Design and Jewellery

The gallery programme spans the established and the new. Carpenters joins NOMAD for the first time in its 20th anniversary year; Beirut-based PIK'D makes its debut with ceramics, glass and collectible design; and Cairo-based Le Lab, The AP Room — the first gallery in the UAE to unite historic and contemporary collectible design — and anonymous design collective SUPER LOOP anchor a strong regional presence. In Woven in Us, Bahrain's MATTAR draws on more than 180 years of family knowledge of the country's natural pearls, placing pearl and textile together as material, memory and inheritance. Mumbai-based Studio Renn presents [Prime]al, jewellery developed from a study of Indian Indigenous arts; Boghossian and Ars Belga bring high jewellery into dialogue with postwar and contemporary painting; and LEVUMA and JCRD Design pair exceptional diamonds with historical Brazilian collectible design.

MATTAR, Pearl Tassel, from Woven in Us. Courtesy of MATTAR and NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026

Levuma, Important diamond necklace. Courtesy of Levuma and NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026

Nacho Carbonell, Flying Bubble, 2025. Courtesy of Carpenters and NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026

Beyond Terminal 1

This year NOMAD extends further into the city. ERTH Abu Dhabi becomes the NOMAD Hub for the week of the fair, hosting breakfasts, dinners and evening gatherings, and brings Emirati hospitality to Terminal 1 through the official NOMAD Pop-Up Restaurant. A collaboration with Public Art Abu Dhabi unfolds across both locations — at Terminal 1, South African artist Robin Rhode will develop a progressive wall drawing and performance over the course of the fair. The expanded Public Program, presented in partnership with BGRE, opens with a conversation on placemaking between Malak Abu Qaoud of BGRE Arts and Foster + Partners architect Ill-Sam Park, and continues with artists Asunción Molinos Gordo and Vica Pacheco, designer Cristiano Pelizzari, architect Sumayya Vally and Air Afrique creative director Djiby Kebe, alongside regional voices including Afra AlDhaheri, Nour Hage and Chafa Ghaddar. ELITE by Chalhoub Group presents The Art of Living, gathering Max Mara, Repossi, De Beers, Lalique and others in a single immersive setting, while Perrier collaborates with the Antidote Functional Bar.

Founded by Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte, NOMAD is a travelling showcase that has staged editions in Capri, St. Moritz, Monaco, Venice, Cannes and the Hamptons — a boutique alternative to the conventional fair, conceived in dialogue with each location. Returning to Terminal 1 for a second year, NOMAD Abu Dhabi continues to explore what becomes possible when architecture, material knowledge and people come together in a particular place.

Details

NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026

Terminal 1, Old Abu Dhabi Airport

18–22 November 2026

Presented in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi)